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The  Answer  of  the  Church  to 
the  Call  of  the  Times 

Convention  Address 


The  Church  Facing  Its  Task 

Convention  Sermon 


Evangelism 

Forward  Movement  Address 


AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN  CONVENTION 

CONNEAUT,  OHIO,  1919’ 


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The  Answer  of  the  Church  to  the  Call  of  the  Times 


Quadrennial  Message  of  the  President,  Rev.  F.  G.  Coffin,  D.  D., 
to  The  American  Christian  Convention  at  Conneaut, 

Ohio,  April  29,  1919 

Never  has  our  Church  come  together  under  circumstances  duplicating  the 
present.  The  time  is  auspicious.  Our  future  is  filled  with  both  promise  and 
portent.  Nationally,  we  have  just  passed  through  a  Gethsemane  of  sorrow,  a 
Calvary  of  sacrificial  blood  and  a  tempest  of  war.  The  oppressing  sense  of  all 
this,  with  its  elements  of  contest  and  confusion,  is  still  upon  us.  Let  us  pray 
that  the  feeling  may  not  be  too  pervasive  for  the  highest  spiritual  concentra¬ 
tion. 

Nothing  can  destroy  the  notion  of  the  far-reaching  significance  of  the  days 
through  which  we  are  traveling,  nor  of  the  responsibility  upon  any  representa¬ 
tive  religious  gathering  meeting  in  them.  A  failure  to  understand  the  bigness 
of  the  hour  or  to  underinterpret  our  relation  to  it  will  be  nothing  short  of 
criminal.  If  we  make  the  deeds  of  this  Convention  measure  up  to  such  a 
conception,  our  Church  will  be  vastly  bettered  whether  such  impressions  are 
warranted  or  not.  If  we  deliberately  fall  below  the  demands  which  we  believe 
the  hour  imposes,  the  Church  will  be  worse  by  such  failure. 

All  the  periods  of  human  history  are  significant,  but  some  of  them  mark 
summits  of  worthy  achievement.  History  is  mostly  a  gentle  undulation  of 
attainments  which  break  the  monotony  of  time  and  humanity.  Occasionally,  a 
period  stands  out  in  a  bold  silhouette  of  distinguished  opportunity  of  service. 
The  present  impresses  us  in  this  way. 

Our  time  is  vibrant  with  strange  sensations  and  noisy  with  new1  vocabu¬ 
laries.  Ideals  of  freedom  and  democracy  are  being  promoted  in  every  corner 
of  the  earth.  Not  all  who  are  talking  such  things  understand  them.  There 
are  agitators  so  diminutive  and  unready  that  they  are  no  better  fitted  with 
these  new  world  ideals  than  was  David  in  the  armor  of  Saul.  They  are  also 
showing  themselves  to  be  about  as  expert  in  their  use  as  was  he.  We  must 
be  patient.  The  radicalism  of  liberty  is  not  an  argument  against  it;  it  shows 
only  that  many  have  not  yet  learned  to  wear  liberty  and  democracy  with  grace. 
There  have  always  been  a  few  points  at  which  liberty  shades  into  license  and 
irresponsibility.  Intellectual  liberty  stands  thus.  It  has  left  no  truth,  however 
venerated,  to  pass  unchallenged.  Yet  its  purpose  is  not  always  vicious — its 
understanding  is  faulty.  Sometimes  these  challenges  are  but  the  demand  of 
a  sentinel  comrade  for  a  true  countersign  of  the  age. 

There  are  new  and  tantalizing  questions  which  go  with  our  age;  yet,  not- 
withstanding  this,  in  a  range  of  vision  which  takes  in  the  centuries,  it  will 
belong  to  the  high -peaks  of  history.  It  is  a  period  of  social  sympathy;  its 
admitted  ideal  is  the  welfare  of  the  world  in  the  heart  of  each  man.  It  encour¬ 
ages  a  vision  of  world  unity  with  none  of  the  obligations  which  such  a  state 
implies  removed.  What  an  array  of  natural  forces  are  subject  to  conscrip¬ 
tion  for  the  use  of  the  Kingdom  in  our  day!  The  improvement  of  transporta¬ 
tion,  the  broadening  methods  of  .^communication,  the  enlargement  of  a  uni¬ 
versal  postal  service  and  the  profusion  of  printing — all  enlarge  the  oppor¬ 
tunity  of  the  church  and  place  more  efficient  forces  at  her  command.  Every 


3 


woild  achievement  toward  a  more  complete  inter-relation  is  an  added  asset  to 
the  Kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  doubtful  if  the  Church  could  ever  turn 
apostate  to  her  sacred  faith  and  trust  with  greater  guilt  than  in  the  hour  in 
which  we  meet.  If,  having  put  our  hand  to  the  plow,  we  now  turn  back,  we 
are  unfit  for  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

We  are  met  here  under  God  to  complete  a  mission  which  He  has  outlined. 
We  are  met  in  the  day  to  which  we  have  that  mission.  It  must  be  worked  out 
now.  To-morrow  will  be  too  late.  A  divine  urgency  is  upon  us.  Another 
war  will  not  come  out  of  a  clash  of  ideals  of  government.  This  has  now 
become  firmly  established.  Democracy  is  to  be  the  order,  politically,  of  the 
future.  So  complete  a  settlement  of  world  ideals  in  matters  of  religion  cannot 
yet  be  affirmed.  The  Church  is  in  her  travail  and  no  man  can  know  what  she 
vdll  bring  forth.  We  must  feel  the  present  purpose  of  God  in  the  world  and 
undertake  its  accomplishment  in  this  Convention  or  we  will  have  met  in  vain. 

There  are  two  aspects  to  our  present  task  with  which  we  will  concern 
ourselves  in  our  thinking  this  evening,  for  we  should  have  part  in  the  structure 
of  both:  First,  the  present  world  demands  upon  all  Christendom;  and,  second, 
the  specific  tasks  of  this  particular  Convention. 

What  are  the  general  requirements  without?  Some  one  will  point  out 
that  there  are  the  demands  for  reconstruction.  What  is  reconstruction?  We 
are  needing  some  definitions  badly.  In  the  broad  expanse  of  new  responsibili¬ 
ties  we  are  in  danger  of  becoming  lost  in  a  wilderness  of  words.  Whaat  must 
be  reconstructed,  and  how?  What  of  the  Church  must  be  used  after  this 
world  holocaust?  What,  if  anything,  must  be  “scrapped?”  What  are  the  new 
things  demanded  for  God’s  structure?  Let  us  outline.  A  new  economic  order 
is  imperative.  We  are  in  the  period  of  crusades — crusades  industrial,  economic, 
social,  moral,  and  religious.  They  do  not  intersect,  nor  even  parallel.  We 
would  better  say  that  the  crusade  is  one  and  it  is  Christian. 

The  conversion  of  commercial  ideals  is  demanded.  It  is  right  that  busi¬ 
ness  illegitimacy  shall  be  defined  and  recognized.  It  is  fair  that  every  man 
shall  have  his  rightful  share  of  what  he  produces  and  no  more.  The  Christian 
task  is  still  undone  until  we  have  a  democracy  in  industry.  It  is  the  Church’s 
business  to  supplant  our  competitive  system  with  a  co-operative  one  which 
shall  include  every  human  factor  in  industry.  There  is  due  a  new  social  order 
of  international  and  interracial  extent.  It  ought  to  be  accepted  and  practiced 
as  well  as  quoted  that  “God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  to 
dwell  together  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth.” 

We  Americans  have  forgotten  most  of  the  courtesies  of  host  which  we 
owe  to  those  who  come  into  our  national  home  from  foreign  shores.  The 
fault  has  not  been  with  our  theories,  for  we  have  been  altogether  orthodox  on 
the  philosophies  of  fraternity.  That’s  the  curse  of  us.  We  have  used  our 
theories  to  beautify  our  language  instead  of  to  regulate  our  lives.  The  men 
of  all  nations  who  have  fought  together  in  the  trenches  for  democracy  must 
be  full  brothers  under  the  democracy  which  they  have  jointly  won.  The  last 
lines  of  democracy — the  homes  of  the  nations  which  have  joined  in  a  common 
defense — must  not  now  be  separated  from  a  common  brotherhood.  No  longer 
can  we  hurl  such  epithets  as  “dago,”  “sheeney,”  “wop,”  and  other  terms  equally  - 
unfair,  discriminating,  and  obnoxious.  America  must  even  learn  how  to  be  fair 
to  Japan — a  thing  which  no  unbiased  student  will  affirm  has  been  our  practice 
in  the  last  few  years.  We  should  revise  our  patriotism  until  the  human  race 


4 


is  the  unit;  not  standing  for  the  “new  nationalism”  as  outlined  some  few  years 
ago  by  President  Roosevelt,  but  for  the  new  internationalism  which  was  out¬ 
lined  in  the  long  ago  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

For  all  of  this,  a  new  sense  of  world  responsibility  must  animate  every 
department  of  the  church — from  the  Primary  Department  of  the  Sunday- 
school  to  the  lecture  room  of  the  university.  Its  applications  must  be  impressed. 
In  it  there  should  be  a  reaching  out  of  Protestantism  for  intercourse  with  its 
own  kind  throughout  the  whole  world.  Indeed,  would  we  not  better  say,  a 
reaching  out  for  all  Christians;  for  Christianity  will  not  have  completely  suc¬ 
ceeded  until  a  right  Catholicism  is  brought  in  and  a  wrong  Catholicism  either 
corrected  or  expunged. 

This  reconstruction  further  demands  a  sacrificial  feeling  of  sympathy. 
That  which  could  come  to  the  world  through  sacrifice  alone  can  be  retained  and 
developed  only  by  the  same  method.  It  must  permeate  the  world  and  the 
Church.  Christians  must  serve  men,  not  for  the  purpose  of  getting  them  into 
their  particular  church,  but  for  the  same  motives  which  prompted  the  service 
of  Christ.  “Social  Service”  is  but  a  term  for  an  all-sided  service  to  humanity 
such  as  Jesus  taught.  The  claims  of  city,  country,  nation,  and  world  rush  to 
these  convention  doors.  Upon  us  is  put  the  test  of  Christ,  who  said  that  “Inas¬ 
much  as  ye  did  it  unto  the  least  of  these,  ye  did  it  unto  me;”  and  wherein 
“ye  did  it  not  unto  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  did  it  not  unto  me.”  Like 
Christ,  a  true  Christian 

“Sees  his  neighbor  in  suffering  man  though  at  the  farthest  pole.” 

For  tasks  of  this  sort,  the  followers  of  Christ  cannot  choose  the  easiest 
way  nor  walk  in  paths  unmarked  by  sacrifice.  The  task  is  to  be  done  and  if 
the  path  be  hard  to  travel,  it  will  be  found  to  be  marked  by  the  dragging  cross 
of  Him  who  finally  fainted  beneath  it  up  the  Via  Dolorosa.  The  Christian 
Without  a  job  in  this  day  is  without  an  ambition;  for  as  Col.  Kearney  one  time 
said  to  a  belated  regiment,  “You  may  drop  in  anywhere;  there  is  good  fighting 
all  along  the  line.”  Christ’s  church  must  be  a  ministering  church.  Because  it 
loves  Him,  it  must  “feed  His  lambs,”  as  Peter  was  commissioned  to  do  in  tes¬ 
timony  of  the  love  which  he  professed  to  bear  for  the  Savior. 

Again,  reconstruction  means  a  new  spiritual  emphasis.  The  earth  is  pock¬ 
marked  with  three  million  graves.  They  were  made,  not  from  ignorance  but 
because  of  a  deficient  morality.  We  never  knew  better  than  now  that  achieve¬ 
ments  are  dangerous  if  they  be  not  moral.  Learning  is  desirable  only  when 
possessed  of  a  Christian  soul.  Science  may  invent  either  an  anesthetic  for  the 
relief  of  pain  or  a  poisonous  gas  to  diabolically  suffocate  life.  Morals  determine 
for  what  purpose  the  achievements  of  science  shall  be  used.  Where  moral 
purpose  is  inadequate,  it  will  be  better  for  the  invention  to  wane. 

Our  Government  has  recognized  this  fact  of  the  necessity  of  morals  in 
nation  building.  It  has  sought  to  establish  a  rule  of  temperance  by  whicl 
sobriety  will  prevail  and  the  menace  to  society  be  removed.  It  has  set  about 
the  extermination  of  the  social  evil  by  a  great  educational  program;  first,  to 
make  men  fit  to  fight,  but  subsequently  continuing  it  to  make  them  fit  to  per¬ 
form  their  duties  after  fighting.  In  its  moral  program,  the  nation  was  first 
interested  in  democracy;  it  is  now  interested  in  posterity  and  realizes  that 
safe  provisions  can  be  made  for  the  future  only  by  a  moral  order  in  human 
practice. 


5 


In  this  field,  what  marvelous  opportunities  open  to  the  Church!  What 
service  is  demanded  in  evangelism  and  Christian  education!  Nowhere  has 
there  been  established  a  high  moral  order  without  a  secure  Christian  founda¬ 
tion.  “In  him  was  life  and  that  life  was  the  light  of  men.”  The  practices  of 
the  body  are  the  expressions  of  the  spirit.  The  change  of  those  practices 
comes  from  the  regeneration  of  the  soul.  The  demand  for  the  spiritual  empha¬ 
sis  of  the  Church  arises  from  more  quarters  than  ever  before  in  the  history  of 
Christianity.  Her  educational  program  must  be  both  more  inclusive  and  more 
unselfish.  Heretofore,  there  has  been  in  it  a  strong  element  of  personal  ex¬ 
ploitation.  Its  purpose  was  to  serve  the  Church.  In  the  new  interpretation,  it 
will  serve  the  Church  and  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  more,  but  that  service  will  be 
directed  in  behalf  of  humanity. 

The  whole  program  of  reconstruction  may  be  described  as  a  fight  for  a 
better  world.  Such  a  victory  will  be  realized  only  by  the  enlistment  of 
spiritual  forces.  For  this  there  is  need  of  the  restatement  of  the  Church’s 
purpose  in  the  terms  of  humanity  rather  than  in  those  of  denominationalism. 
This  does  not  mean  a  church  with  less  mission  than  heretofore,  or  with  less 
loyalty  to  Jesus  Christ,  but  with  more. 

Democracy,  now  the  world’s  word  and  finally  to  become  its  order,  must 
have  a  Church.  What  does  that  democracy  demand?  Or,  if  its  demands  are 
unwise,  what  should  be  given  unto  it?  The  first  postulate  of  democracy  is  the 
solidarity  of  society.  Whatever  divides  people,  invalidates  democracy.  Divi¬ 
sion  spells  disintegration  with  different  letters.  Whatever  else  the  new  order 
will  demand,  there  is  no  question  about  its  demands  of  unity  in  the  Church. 
The  common  democratic!  aims  of  humanity  must  find  a  duplicate  in  the  spirit¬ 
ual  institutions  which  include  that  same  humanity.  Rigid  denominationalism  is 
not  constructive  in  the  broadest  sense.  Most  denominations  did  not  start  out 
with  that  purpose  in  mind.  Their  founding  was  usually  a  protest  against  an 
existing  order.  Their  purpose  was  separation.  They  meant  cleavage.  Their 
program  was  opposition.  The  perpetuation  of  their  distinctive  features  could 
have  but  one  result;  namely,  widening  the  breaches  between  them  and  those 
from  whom  they  came. 

In  the  war,  we  have  learned  the  unwisdom  of  divided  commands.  The 
Allies  early  discovered  that  no  success  could  come  unless  there  was  a  com¬ 
manding  generalissimo  with  all  of  the  national  units  mobilized  into  one  great 
army.  We  are  needing  the  same  wisdom  out  on  the  spiritual  front  of  the  world. 
A  divided  Church  has  in  part  defeated  itself  by  the  fact  of  its  own  division. 
The  Church  is  to  be  a  leader  in  the  daw  day,  but  it  will  never  be  able  to|  lead 
the  world  into  brotherhood  until  within  itself  can  be  set  a  perfect  example 
of  brotherhood. 

The  logic  of  events  demands  the  closest  unity  possible.  Whether  our  task 
is  approached  from  the  angle  of  community  service  or  world  service — whether 
it  be  ministering  to  the  bodies  or  to  the  souls  of  men — union  is  imperative. 
That  this  impression  is  becoming  universal  is  evident  from  the  indubitable, 
get-together  tendencies  of  the  modern  church.  Divisive  non-essentials  are  being 
everywhere  soft-pedaled  and  unities  stressed.  The  great  interests  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Christ  make  inexorable  demand  for  the  impact  of  a  united  Chris¬ 
tendom. 

It  is  not  that  our  Christian  tasks  cannot  be  so  well  done  by  non-co-opera¬ 
tion — the  awful  alternative  is  that  they  cannot  be  done  at  all.  Even  in  the 


6 


femail  community  dooryard  of  our  church,  the  work  awaiting  us  can  be  suc¬ 
cessfully  performed  only  by  co-operation.  We  dare  not  attempt  the  program 
made  necessary  by  our  times  without  a  unification  of  our  forces.  It  ought  to 
be  impossible  to  longer  get  the  consent  of  our  consciences  to  violate  both  the 
highest  loyalty  to  humanity  and  the  simplest  teachings  of  our  Christianity. 
The  world  call  has  imposed  a  task  for  which  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
wholly  inadequate  except  by  union  of  its  forces.  One  cannot  mention  a  gen¬ 
uinely  Christian  activity  which  will  not,  other  things  being  equal,  be  success¬ 
ful  proportionate  to  the  degree  of  unity  which  promotes  it. 

The  times  require  the  mobilization  of  all  with  all.  The  independent  denom¬ 
ination  is  an  insolent  denomination.  The  slogan  of  our  day  is  not  indepen¬ 
dence  but  interdependence;  every  one  a  bit  and  all  the  bits  together.  The 
purely  regimental  standards  of  the  Church  are  of  far  less  consequence  than 
her  Kingdom  standard.  Our  Church  problems  have  already  gone  beyond  the 
adequacy  of  mere  comity.  The  ultimate  must  be  union.  The  spirit  which 
is  leading  in  our  day  will  not  stop  short  of  that.  A  real  crisis  is  on  in  the 
American  Church.  Will  we  have  the  courage  to  go  all  the  way?  Can  we,  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ  in  America,  unhindered  by  the  prejudices  derived 
from  generations  of  sectarianism,  follow  the  heart  and  prayer  of  Christ  to 
the  end?  These  are  not  times  for  thrusting  the  petty  and  insignificant  to 
the  fore.  Big  issues  and  big  days  demand  big  churches  and  big  men.  If  we 
insist  on  pressing  the  traditions  of  denominationalism  upon  our  present-day 
life,  we  will  have  to  render  account  to  a  severe  and  unforgiving  generation. 
The  world  will  not  be  willing  to  accredit  the  Church  as  an  institution  com¬ 
porting  with  the  times  unless  she  can  convert  herself  into  a  united  force. 
Without  this,  she  will  by  decree  of  a  humanity-loving  world  be  consigned  to 
the  junk  heap  of  history.  The  age  which  we  are  trying  to  impress  scorns  our 
histories,  our  dogmas,  and  our  distinctions,  but  it  measures  well  and  values 
high  our  common  service  to  humanity. 

We  are  not  assuming  that  any  one  will  question  the  things  which  have  just 
been  said.  We  are  only  fearful  that  they  will  not  be  practiced.  Unity  can 
come  only  where  fraternity  prevails.  It  is  not  primarily  a  matter  of  method 
—it  is  a  matter  of  spirit.  Given  the  spirit  of  a  loving  and  generous  fraternity, 
the  plans  for  expressing  it  will  be  comparatively  easy.  There  must  be  the 
warmth  of  a  genuine  fellowship  of  individual  Christians  and  individual 
denominations  in  which  there  is  no  tendency  to  narrowness,  prejudice,  or  self- 
seeking.  Before  any  program  of  large  application  can  hope  of  success,  its 
condition  must  be  created  in  human  hearts. 

Church  unity,  like  world  unity,  will  be  founded  on  democracy.  The  Bible 
must  be  the  Magna  Charta  of  Church  government.  Christ  must  be  supreme 
in  authority.  He  has  been  said  “to  be  the  world’s  first  democrat.”  Democracy 
implies  the  freedom  of  personal  faith.  Only  autocracy  demands  another  plan. 
With  this  must  go  the  free  exercise  of  conscience,  reason,  and  expression. 

“All  honor  the  men  who  are  willing  to  sink 
Half  their  present  repute  for  the  freedom  to  think; 

And  when  they  have  thought,  be  the  cause  strong  or  weak, 

Will  sink  th’  other  half  for  the  freedom  to  speak.” 

But  we  shall  be  especially  concerned  with  the  second  aspect  of  our  even¬ 
ing’s  study,  for  we  are  anxious  to  know  and'  ambitious  to  perform  the  specific 


7 


tasks  which  belong  to  our  own  Church  at  this  crisai  time.  The  task  which 
belongs  to  the  whole  Church  belongs  equally  to  us.  Though  we  are  a  sepai-ate 
body,  we  are  not  here  to  dissociate  ourselves  from  the  general  body.  Instead, 
we  are  here  to  more  deeply  involve  ourselves  in  it.  If  this  Convention,  by  any 
word  or  act,  should  say  to  the  world  that  the  Christian  Church  seeks  a  cloistered 
seclusion,  or  will  tolerate  an  invasion  of  our  part  of  the  general  responsibility, 
we  would  better  never  have  met. 

In  this  new  time,  every  organization  should  place  itself  under  rigid  inter¬ 
rogation  as  to  whether  it  is  actually  meeting  the  world’s  needs.  It  should 
also  have  the  courage  to  so  re-adjust  its  program  and  reconstruct  itself  as  to 
be  able  to  give  an  affirmitive  answer  to  the  question.  We  would  better  do  much 
questioning  ourselves  for,  whether  we  desire  it  or  not,  the  world  has  estab¬ 
lished  its  new  inquisition  with  a  “fire  that  tries  every  man’s  work  of  what 
sort  it  is.”  There  can  be  no  evasion  of  this  inquiry  nor  the  presentation  of 
acceptable  excuses  for  failure.  The  only  credential  recognized  by  the  twen¬ 
tieth  century  is  service  rendered. 

I  am  having  such  faith  in  you,  my  brethren,  and  in  the  generosity  of 
your  interpretations  that  I  feel  free  to  say  frankly  what  is  in  my  heart.  I 
love  my  Church  and  would  make  no  reference  to  any  of  her  shortcomings  with 
other  than  a  purpose  to  correct.  To  outline  our  part  in  this  new  day  we  must 
again  resort  to  definitions  concerning  our  genius  and  mission.  We  have 
indulged  much  discussion  as  to  whether  we  are  a  denomination,  an  organibation, 
or  just  folks.  After  all  the  discussion,  the  question  is  still  purely  one  of 
individual  interpretation.  Our  beginnings  throw  little  light  upon  the  subject 
for  they  are  quite  meaningless  as  to  what  we  are  to-day.  We  have  changed 
from  the  fathers  in  very  many  ways.  Our  beginning  was  like  that  of  other 
denominations — mostly  a  negation  against  existing  practices.  All  of  the  cor¬ 
related  movements  which  mark  our  life  to-day  were  far  from  the  thought  of 
the  original  founders.  It  is  not  a  criticism  against  us,  it  is  but  evidence  of  the 
fact  that  men  cannot  set  the  bounds  of  God’s  movements. 

Some  would  have  us  cling  wholly  to  the  ways  of  the  fathers.  If  wp  do, 
we  will  by  that  very  process  depart  from  them.  It  was  their  glory  that  they 
departed  from  the  ways  of  their  fathers.  In  a  changing  world  there  must  be 
either  a  changing  or  an  obsolete  Church.  Former  things  are  passing  away; 
all  things  must  become  new.  The  Church  must  undergo  her  regeneration  as 
well  as  man.  She  must  adapt  all  that  she  is  and  purposes  to  the  needs  of  the 
time  in  which  she  operates.  She  must  “act,  act  in  the  living  present,  heart 
within  and  God  o’erhead.”  I  declare  to  you  that  if  the  Christian  Church 
does  not  move  into  this  promised  land  of  the  new  day,  God  will  be  grieved 
with  this  generation  as  well  as  with  that  one  of  the  long  ago.  Have  we  not 
now  come  to  the  place  longed  for  by  Louise  Tarkington? 

“I  wish  there  were  some  wonderful  place 
Called  the  land  of  Beginning  Again; 

Where  all  our  mistakes  and  all  heart  aches 
And  all  our  poor  selfish  grief 

Could  be  dropped  like  a  shabby  old  coat  at  the  door 
And  never  put  on  again.” 

The  Christian  Church  fathers  were  not  mere  navigators — they  were  ex¬ 
plorers.  They  chartered  new  lines,  laid  new  paths,  and  discovered  ways 

8 

\ 


hitherto  unknown.  They  were  not  echoes  out  of  the  past,  but  voices  crying  in 
the  wilderness,  “Make  straight  the  way  of  the  Lord.”  We  will  not  set  our 
course  except  relatively  by  the  past.  The  present  and  the  future  must  dictate 
the  nature  of  our  activities.  Not  long  ago  I  was  with  a  party  which  started 
across  the  lake  to  an  important  Chautauqua  assemblage  on  the  other  side. 
The  pilot,  occupied  with  visiting,  looked  only  backward  toward  the  point  from 
which  we  had  started.  He  soon  discovered  that  we  were  out  of  our  course  and 
not  moving  toward  the  event  for  which  we  had  started.  The  point  of  destina¬ 
tion  is  always  a  more  reliable  landmark  for  the  direction  of  our  course  than 
the  past  can  be. 

We  have  laid  much  emphasis  upon  the  apostolic  church.  From  it  we 
should  never  depart  in  our  faith,  in  its  kind  of  power,  in  its  purpose,  in  its 
loyalty  to  God,  and  in  its  desire  for  the  welfare  of  humanity.  Our  motives 
for  existence  must  remain  identical  with  that  first  church.  The  methods  of 
accomplishing  that  purpose  are  an  invention  of  the  age.  The  ultimate  object 
and  motive  of  the  Church  is  from  God.  The  method  will  be  determined  by  the 
men  and  the  age  to  be  reached.  As  a  rural  lad,  I  used  to  trap  rabbits  in  the 
winters  and  gophers  in  the  summers.  I  used  a  different  method  for  each.  I 
might  have  found  a  more  agreeable  way  could  the  decision  have  been  left 
entirely  to  me.  I  decided  only  that  I  would  catch  the  game— the  rabbit  decided 
how  I  would  catch  him  and  the  gopher  determined  the  method  by  which  he 
would  be  caught.  It  is  so  with  catching  men  for  the  Kingdom  of  Christ.  Paul 
understood  this  well,  for  he  became  all  things  to  all  men  in  order  that  he 
might  win  some.  Some  people1  get  frightened  at  new  methods  like  the  horse 
at  the  automobile.  He  does  not  know  that  in  the  end  the  auto  is  his  best 
friend.  There  are  others  as  wild  in  their  philosophy  as  Ishbebenob  who  believed 
in  his  weapon  only  because  it  was  new  and  strange. 

The  Christian  Church  has  usually  made  its  principles  its  chief  talking 
point.  We  can  claim  but  little  credit  for  our  principles;  they  were  handed  to 
this  generation  ready-made;- or,  at  best,  we  found  them.  Our  achievements 
are  the  only  things  for  which  we  are  entitled  to  much  credit.  It  required  no 
strain  or  effort  to  come  to  our  church  position  in  theory.  It  was  a  simple 
evolution  of  the  open-minded.  Any  number  of  folks  are  individually  arriving 
at  our  basis  without  ever  knowing  we  have  had  it.  The  world  will  earlier  or 
later  arrive  at  our  principles  with  an  easy  independence  of  us.  Neither  the 
discovering  nor  the  holding  of  our  church  principles  can  be  credited  aa  a 
particular  achievement.  It  is  the  practice  of  them  that  is  worth  while. 
Precious  as  they  are  to  us,  our  mission  in  connection  with  them  may  be  more 
of  an  infusion  of  our  church  genius  into  a  world  than  an  inclusion  of  the 
world  into  our  Church.  The  miser  holds  what  comes  to  him,  the  captain  of 
industry  improves  upon  it  and  gives  out  so  that  others  receive  the  benefit  from 
his  investment.  May  the  Christian  Church  emulate  the  latter. 

We  may  dilate  upon  the  ideality  of  our  position,  but  we  must  face  the  stern 
fact  that  nothing  but  our  doings  will  get  the  ear  of  the  world  and  the  approval 
of  Christ.  People  of  the  best  principles  ought  to  be  people  of  the  best  prac¬ 
tices.  “By  their  fruits  shall  ye  know  them.”  This  will  be  the  logic  of  the 
world.  Our  times  are  merciless.  They  cast  the  much  prized  credentials  of 
men  into  the  world’s  wastebasket  and  then  shout,  “We  care  not  for  your  antece¬ 
dents,  what  can  you  do?”  No  religionist  can  long  interest  the  world  in  his  de¬ 
tached  theories,  however  good  they  may  be.  They  will  already  be  sympathetic 


9 


toward  his  good  practices.  It  is  only  the  language  of  a  real  life  which  a  world 
understands  and  only  the  doctrine  of  deeds  to  which  it  gives  universal  approval. 
The  man  of  the  hour  is  the  man  of  deeds.  So  is  the  institution  of  the  hour. 
Theories  are  to  our  age  but  spiders’  webs,  meant  to  catch  only  flies.  Philoso¬ 
phies  are  the  play-grounds  of  minds  detached  from  life.  Beliefs  are  often  little 
more  than  an  index  of  temperament.  The  world  will  not  seriously  examine 
our  creed  except  our  creed  of  purpose  and  practice.  We  have  been  measuring 
ourselves  by  our  ideals.  All  others  are  measuring  us  by  our  practices.  It  is 
deeds  in  the  test  of  time  which  like  that  of  eternity  divides  the  sheep  from  the 
goats. 

If  the  New  Era  movement  succeeds  and  the  Forward  Movement  fails,  the 
people  will  hail  the  Church  of  that  movement  as  the  Church  for  this  new  era. 
If  the  Centenary  Movement  succeeds  and  our  Forward  Movement  fails,  the 
Church  which  fosters  it  will  be  the  Church  of  the  new  century.  If  our  For¬ 
ward  Movement  goes  to  success,  numbers  will  be  willing  to  go  forward  with  real 
men  who  are  doing  real  things.  They  will  not  follow  pictures  of  either  word 
or  brush.  A  German  thinker  has  announced,  “The  history  of  the  world  is  the 
judgment  of  the  world.”  May  I  paraphrase  to  say  that  the  record  of  the 
achievements  of  the  Christian  Church  is  the  judgment  of  the  Christian 
Church?  No  Church  will  stand  because  of  its  divine  origin  nor  because  it  has 
the  word  of  inspiration  in  it.  Israel  had  both  of  these  and  yet  she  failed.  She 
could  not  obey  God;  she  could  not  be  faithful;  she  could  not  include  a  whole 
world  in  her  sympathies  nor  serve  it  with  her  program.  We  are  set  in  this 
day  to  be  a  light  unto  the  world.  It!  may  be  easier  to  boast  of  our  principles 
but  it  will  not  serve  the  purpose. 

A  gentleman,  not  long  ago,  equipped  his  summer  cottage  with  electric  wir¬ 
ing  and  fixtures.  The  electric  light  company  was  tardy  in  installing  the 
service.  For  the  ringing  of  his  doorbell,  he  had  connected  a  battery.  His  bell 
rang  so  loudly  that  he  thought  there  must  be  considerable  power  in  the  bat¬ 
tery.  A  bright  idea  struck  him — why  not  connect  up  the  battery  to  his  electric 
light  system  until  the  company  should  install  his  service.  This  he  did  but  no 
light  came.  He  thought  perhaps  he  had  crossed  wires  in  some  way  and  invited 
an  electrician  friend  in  to  solve  his  puzzle.  After  the  electrician  saw  what  he 
had  done,  he  said,  “Do  you  not  know,  my  good  friend,  that  it  takes  much  more 
power  to  make  a  light  than  it  does  to  make  a  noise?” 

There  are  some  specific  duties  which  belong  to  the  function  of  this  Con¬ 
vention.  Some  of  them  if  not  done  now,  we  will  never  again  have  a  chance 
to  do.  It  is  the  duty  of  this  Convention  first  to  make  a  useable,  worth-while 
organization.  We  must  not  obscure  our  vision  of  duty  by  a  desire  for  bigness. 
There  is  a  merit  of  quality  surpassing  that  of  size.  We  may  sometimes  lament 
our  paucity,  but  as  Spurgeon  said  to  the  young  man  who  bemoaned  the  small 
size  of  his  congregation,  “It  will  be  as  large  as  you  will  want  to  account  for 
in  the  Day  of  Judgment.”  We  do  need  to  stand  for  things  which  are  big  in 
their  nature-  -for  real  things.  Better  by  far  to  accomplish  one  real  thing  than 
to  dissipate  our  energies  through  an  extended  field  of  a  hundred  useless  ideals. 
The  other  day  a  sham  battle  took  place  in  one  of  the  parks  of  my  city.  It  had 
all  the  semblance  of  battle  except  that  there  was  no  enemy  and  the  cartridges 
were  blank.  After  it  was  over,  the  khakied  participants  strutted  away  amid 
the  anplause  of  the  multitude.  We  have  done  something  of  thac  same  sort. 
We  have  put  in  a  lot  of  time  like  Don  Quixote  fighting  windmills,  sometimes 


10 


with  a  following  of  Sancho  Panzas  who  are  thinking  we  are  doing  real  things. 
We  have  trumped  up  dangers  that  did  not  exist.  We  have  found  designs  that 
never  were.  We  have  built  numerous  emplacements  which  have  been  used 
only  for  sham  battles.  This  is  not  so  serious  if  it  be  the  entertainment  of  a 
day;  but,  my  brethren,  it  is  tragic  when  amid  all  this  mere  play,  the  great 
throbbing  needs  of  the  day  have  not  gotten  to  us.  We  may  have  turned  them 
aside  because  their  vocabulary  does  not  suit  some  or  because  the  thirty-eighth 
item  of  the  program  is  not  stated  as  they  would  have  stated  it.  These  are 
days  for  real  things  when  words  either  spoken  or  written  should  not  be  wasted 
on  insignificant  matters. 

A  second  purpose  of  this  Convention  is  to  effect  a  greater  unity  of  spirit, 
plan,  and  purpose  among  our  own  people.  Success  in  the  Christian  Church 
awaits  a  more  perfect  cohesion.  We  have  been  too  scattered  and  too  diverse. 
Paul  tells  us  that  “the  whole  body  must  be  fitly  joined  together  and  compacted.” 
The  Forward  Movement  program  means  a  united  opportunity  from  which  there 
need  be  no  dissent.  It  is  the  first  of  its  kind  and  magnitude.  Into  it  should 
be  put  a  united  impact  of  the  whole  Church. 

Brethren,  for  the  sake  of  this  more  perfect  unity,  let  our  hearts  come  close 
together  and  embrace  in  these  holy  days  of  fellowship.  Let  us  carry  away 
from  this  Convention  an  abiding  memory  of  the  holy  spell  of  Christian  love. 
Some  men  cannot  differ  in  opinions  without  differing  in  fellowship.  Let  it  not 
be  so  with  us.  Let  us  here  tarry  in  this  heavenly  place  in  Christ  Jesus  until 
each  heart  touched  by  divine  love  is  melted  into  a  unity  with  all  others  of  its 
kind  that  no  after  strain  may  break.  A  little  French  girl  wrote  of  the  rela¬ 
tion  of  America  and  France:  “There  is  a  river  in  France  so  narrow  that  you 
can  talk  across  it.  Birds  can  fly  over  with  one  sweep  of  their  wings.  Great 
armies  are  on  either  bank,  but  they  are  as  far  apart  as  the  stars  in  the  sky,  as 
right  and  wrong.  There  is  a  great  ocean.  It  is  so  wide  that  sea  gulls  cannot 
fly  across  it  without  rest.  Upon  either  shore  there  are  great  nations;  they  are 
so  close  that  their  hearts  touch.”  In  this  Convention,  however  widely  our 
opinions  may  wander,  let  not  our  hearts  cease  to  touch  each  other. 

I  conceive  the  third  function  of  this  Convention  to  be  the  devising  of  plans 
that  will  make  for  permanency!  We  have  lived  too  ephemerally.  We  have 
been  opportunists.  The  time  has  come  to  initiate  programs  for  the  church, 
the  conferences,  and  The  American  Christian  Convention  of  longer  duration. 
In  no  case  ought  the  minimum  of  consideration  to  be  less  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  Our  plans  have  been  too  brief,  our  pastorates  too  short.  As  some 
one  has  said,  there  are  walking  pastors  as  well  as  walking  delegates.  We  must 
not  be  intermittent  altar  boys,  merely  holding  the  fringe  of  an  ecclesiastical 
skirt  from  dragging  in  the  dust.  We  must  be  in  the  game,  doing  the  great 
things  which  are  imperishable,  and  laying  plans  which  will  make  their  doing 
more  effective  in  the  years  to  come. 

Permanent  plans  will  be  plans  of  efficiency.  It  is  not  an  efficient  program 
if  we  use  only  a  part  of  our  man  power  or  other  resources.  Nor  can  we  be 
efficient  if  we  are  using  only  a  part  of  the  God  power  available  for  man.  Let 
us  entertain  no  delusions  that  our  problem  is  purely  one  of  methods  or  of 
organization.  It  is  primarily  one  of  willingness,  consecration  and  man  devel¬ 
opment.  We  must  indulge  the  long  perspective.  We  must  develop  our  re¬ 
sources — human  and  divine.  We  must  utilize  our  assets — physical,  monetary, 
mental,  and  spiritual.  Sometimes  I  think  we  are  like  the  Aborigines  who  lived 


11 


in  the  midst  of  great  resources,  yet  used  them  not.  If  my  humble  opinion  is 
worth  crediting,  pure  neglect,  lack  of  conservation,  and  unwillingness  have 
penalized  the  Christian  Church  far  more  than  limited  ability. 

By  this  Convention,  we  should  also  be  helped  into  a  full  vision  of  God’s 
purpose  in  us.  We  have  talked  much  about  vision,  but  it  is  still  an  over¬ 
worked  word  and  underworked  fact.  We  must  be  able  to  see  with  God  what 
he  wTants  us  to  do.  We  must  read  the  divine  purpose  into  the  ever  moving 
human  events.  For  all  this  it  is  necessary  to  live  in  tune  with  the  Infinite,  to 
enter  into  a  relationship  with  Christ  until  that  which  we  call  our  vision  is  His 
revelation.  Visions  are  not  absent  from  prayer;  they  are  not  separated  from 
spiritual  wrestling.  They  are  neither  easy  to  get  nor  to  keep. 

The  last  function  of  this  Convention  which  I  will  mention  should  be  to 
help  all  to  a  consecration  that  will  enable  us  to  meet  the  full  measure  of  the 
saciifice  demanded.  May  we  turn  from  the  easy  way,  for  the  easy  way  is  not 
the  Lord’s  way.  May  we  here  establish  in  our  hearts  and  for  our  Church  the 
absolute  commitment  of  ourselves  to  God  and  the  doing  of  His  will  until  we 
shall  share  the  feelings  of  Christ  who  said,  “I  came  not  to  do  my  own  will  but 
the  will  of  him  who  sent  me.”  Let  us  cultivate  that  divine  willingness  within 
us  that  we  shall  notj  hold  ourselves  back  and  from  our  duties,  nor  grudge  the 
service  of  which  our  lives  are  capable.  Said  an  old  friend  to  a  returning 
Canadian  soldier,  “Oh,  I  see  you  have  lost  an  arm.”  But  the  northern  patriot 
drew  himself  to  his  full  strength  and  with  a  glint  of  fire  and  determination  in 
his  reply,  said,  “No,  sir,  I  gave  it.”  Oh,  Lord,  make  us  willing  in  this  the  day  of 
Thy  Power ! 


“The  Church  Facing  Its  Task” 


Convention  Sermon  by  Rev.  E.  A.  Watkins,  D.  D. 


Text — Matthew  6:  10:  “Thy  Kingdom  come,  Thy  will  be  done,  in  earth  as 
it  is  in  Heaven.” 

The  Church  has  always  had  its  face  forward  and  toward  the  dawning  of 
every  new  day.  The  Kingdom  of  God,  as  her  objective,  has  ever  lured  the 
forces  of  righteousness,  to  face  the  seeming  impossible,  overcome  obstacles 
unsurmountable ;  accept  the  challenge  of  every  new  age,  '  and  follow  the 
gleam  of  a  “New  Heaven  and  New  Earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness.” 
The  followers  of  the  Man  of  Galilee  have  never  turned  aside  from  the  great 
moral  issues  of  the  world,  nor  have  they  turned  their  backs  upon  the  big  tasks’ 
that  have  confronted  them;  but  following  the  leadership  of  the  Son  of  God, 
through  every  crisis,  they  have  accepted  the  principle  of  sacrifice,  and  that 
“without  the  shedding  of  blood,  there  is  no  remission  of  sin,”  gloried  and 
reveled  in  projects  colossal,  plunged  gladly  into  moral  enterprises  which  taxed 
the  resources  of  the  soul;  and  long  ago  vindicated  their  claim  to  the  moral 
and  spiritual  leadership  of  the  world. 

But  the  Church  faces  a  new  situation.  We  are  living  in  a  new  world.  It 
is  not  what  it  was  four  years  ago.  Out  of  this  baptism  of  fire,  out  of  thi; 


12 


deluge  of  blood,  out  of  this  terriffic  maelstrom  of  death,  this  tremendous  sacri¬ 
fice  of  life  and  treasure,  has  come  a  “New  Heaven  and  New  Earth.”  The  world 
has  changed.  The  world  is  changing  its  thought  and  emphasis.  The  Church 
must  change.  A  static,  standstill  Church  in  a  changing  worl  dmeans  collision 
and  disaster  sooner  or  later.  There  are  new  problems  and  new  conditions  we 
have  never  faced  before.  WE  ARE  IN  A  CRISIS.  The  next  few  years  will 
determine  whether  Democracy,  Freedom,  and  Human  Brotherhood  are  to  be 
realized,  or  whether  they  are  to  perish  from  the  earth.  The  world  can  never 
again  be  what  it  has  been  in  the  past.  Thrones  and  empires,  dynasties  and 
kingdoms  are  crumbling  and  crowns  and  scepters  are  destined  for  the  junk 
heap,  and  an  awakening  world  of  oppressed  humanity  has  visions  of  democracy 
and  freedom,  and  in  the  glaring  light  of  this  new  day,  the  Hosts  of  God  and 
the  Harbingers  of  Freedom  and  brotherhood  have  marched  in  solid  phalanx 
against  the  enemies  of  humanity  and  Mt.  Carmel,  Gethsemane,  and  Calvary 
are  again  in  the  possession  of  the  Disciples  of  the  Man  of  Galilee.  The  world 
has  been  SHOCKED  AND  SHAKEN  from  center  to  circumference,  and  trem¬ 
bles  like  an  aspen  leaf ;  every  nerve,  fibre,  and  tissue  tingles  with  motion,  and 

like  a  giant,  wounded  and  blinded  and  dazed,  gropes 
its  way  in  the  twilight  of  the  new  day,  fo  rsome- 
thing  solid  upon  which  to  stand,  something  per¬ 
manent  upon  which  to  build.  Staggering  under  the 
heavy  burden  of  the  most  cruel  and  heartless  war 
in  all  human  history,  bleeding,  suffering,  dying 
humanity  raises  the  question,  “What  is  the  matter 
with  the  world?”— and  the  prophets  of  the  new  age 
have  spoken  God’s  message,  and  declare  that  “God’s 
world  has  gone  wrong.”  This  awful  world-calamity 
has  fallen  upon  us  in.  judgment.  Charles  Jefferson 
said  the  other  day,  “The  world  in  1914  fell  into  a 
ditch  because  men  in  high  places  said,  ‘We  will  not 
have  this  man  Jesus  to  rule  over  us*  'We  prefer 
Bismarck,  Bernhari,  and  Nietzche.  The  laws  of 
Christ  were  flouted  in  the  realm  of  industrial  and 
international  conduct.  It  was  a  costly  error.  It 
was  a  deadly  blunder.  God’s  condemnation  of  it  is 
written  across  the  earth  and  in  letters  of  fire  across  the  heavens.  We  have  let 
slip  from  our  grasp  some  of  the  really  big  things  of  the  Kingdom,  frittered 
away  the  priceless  years  in  hopeless  isolation,  wasting  time,  resources,  and 
spiritual  energy,  in  shameful  controversies  over  secondary  matters,  and  let 
slip  from  our  grasp  the  really  Big  Things  of  FATHERHOOD— BROTHER¬ 
HOOD— MINISTRY— SACRIFICE— and  Service. 

The  Church  has  not  always  been  equal  to  the  situation.  It  has  to  its 
credit  a  long  list  of  worthy  achievements.  But  we  are  just  awakening  to  the 
fact  of  failure  in  the  larger  social  and  international  relationships.  Big  indus¬ 
trial  corporations  and  the  State  itself  did  not  regard  the  Christian  law  as  bind¬ 
ing  upon  them,  until  the  crash  came.  When  the  crisis  came,  when  the  cords 
^hat  bound  the  nations,  snapped  as  a  rope  of  straw,  when  the  dogs  of  war  were 
let  loose,  and  civilization  was  about  to  collapse,  and  nations  drunk  and  insane 
with  the  thought  of  destiny,  threw  off  all  moral  restraints  and  considerations, 
and  repudiated  all  treaties  and  sacred  compacts,  as  “scraps  of  paper” _ the 


13 


Christian  forces  were  impotent  and  powerless  to  stay  the  onrushing  tide  of 
war.  There  was  no  PROGRAM,  no  VOICE,  no  WORD  to  curb  the  mad¬ 
dened  passions  of  a  war-crazed,  deluded,  and  blood-thirsty  race  of  people. 

But  I  am  wondering  what  we  are  going  to  do  when  the  next  crisis  comes, 
when  the  fate  of  civilization  hangs  in  the  balance  again — and  it  will  come, 
unless  we  are  ready  to  face  the  task  of  Christianizing  all  the  relations  of  life, 
individual,  social,  industrial,  and  international.  As  long  as  we  repudiate  the 
solidarity  of  the  race  and  human  brotherhood,  just  that  long  must  we  face  the 
danger  of  another  world-calamity,  another  world-tragedy.  “Mankind  is  now  in 
possession  of  instruments  by  which  it  can  extinguish  the  light  of  hope.  Civiliza¬ 
tion  has  the  apparatus  in  its  hand  by  which  it  can  commit  suicide.”  The 
heart-broken  men  and  women  of  the  world  are  crying,  “What  shall  we  do  to 
be  saved?”  The  answer  to-day  is  the  answer  which  Simon  Peter  gave  to  Jeru¬ 
salem  1900  years  ago:  “Repent,  and  believe  in  Jesus  Christ.  There  is  none 
other  name  under  heaven  given  among  men  whereby  we  must  be  saved.” 
Neither  prophet  nor  sear  dare  ignore  the  possibility  of  another  crisis,  another 
catastrophe,  far  more  destrucitve  and  death-dealing  than  this  one.  SOME¬ 
THING  MUST  BE  DONE.  If  not,  when  that  time  comes,  the  Churches  will  be 
as  helpless,  as  they  were  in  1914.  They  will  have  something  to  say — some 
program — or  they  will  have  nothing  to  say. 

It  is  a  big  task,  but  the  Church  should  be  equal  to  the  emergency.  It  is  the 
biggest  task  organized  Christianity  has  ever  faced ;  but  it  is  the  bigness  of  the 
task  that  holds  the  challenge.  We  will  profit  by  the  past.  I  see  the  evidences 
everywhere.  Witness  the  great  Forward  Movements  in  the  Churches.  We  are 
to  raise  $500,000,  as  our  partj  of  the  program.  It  should  have  been  a  million. 
Five  hundred  thousand  dollars  is  not  an  adequate  challenge  to  115,000  people. 
I  suggest  that  we  make  it  a  million  and  appeal  to  the  heroic  spirit  of  sacrifice 
among  our  people.  Here  is  the  acid  test  of  discipleship.  Will  you  hear  me, 
when  I  say  that  we  will  either  overscribe  this  fund  or  there  is  no  hope  for  us? 
This  is  our  Denominational  Salvation.  In  the  glaring  light  of  this  world- 
blunder  and  in  the  illumination  of  the  coming  day,  and  under  the  inspiration 
of  big  tasks  faced  and  mastered,  I  believe  we  are  living  in  the  dawn  of  a  New 
Day,  wherein  “The  kingdoms  of  this  world  are  to  become  the  kingdoms  of  our 
Lord  and  his  Christ.” 

I.  The  Church  Faces  the  Task  of  Leadership. 

The  Church  must  lead.  Spiritual  forces  must  lead.  The  Church  must 
march  in  the  vanguard  of  human  progress,  or  she  will  not  march  at  all.  She 
must  lead  in  the  industrial  world,  if  the  problems  there  are  ever  solved.  She  must 
lead  in  the  political  world,  if  peace  and  harmony  are  to  prevail.  She 
must  lead  in  the  social  world  and  do  away  with  the  plague  spots  and  heal  the 
open  sores  of  the  world.  She  must  lead  in  the  campaign  against  war  and  must 
conquer  war  or  confess  failure.  The  forces  of  righteousness  must  create  such 
a  state  of  mind  as  to  make  war  impossible. 

The  Church  must  lead.  The  world  is  asking  for  an  army,  armed  with  other 
than  machine  guns,  war-planes,  and  poisonous  gases.  The  challenge  is  for  a 
“Moral  equivalent  of  war.”  Spiritual  forces  must  take  the  lead  in  a  world 
crazed  with  the  destructiveness  of  materialism.  This  is  no  time  toi  sit  idly  by 
as  a  “Civilian,”  when  the  call  to  arms  is  sounded.  The  fight  is  on,  and  there 
is  no  time  to  complacently  sit  in  the  easy  chair  singing,  “How  tedious  and  taste¬ 
less  the  hours,”  when  we  ought  to  be  in  the  thick  of  the  fight  singing,  “Onward, 


14 


Christian  Soldiers,  Marching  as  to  War.”  A  crisis  like  this  tests  our  fitness 
and  capacity  for  leadership,  while  a  staggering  world  is  groping  in  the  dark¬ 
ness  of  hatred  and  bloodshed  and  waiting  for  such  a  Moses  to  lead  her  out.  The 
test  of  an  army  is  not  in  how  it  behaves  on  dress  parade,  but  what  it  does  on 
the  field  of  battle,  IN  THE  CRISIS;  not  how  it  wears  its  weapons,  but  how  it 
uses  them.  The  test  of  the  Church  is!  not  in  what  it  believes,  but  in  how  it 
U-S-E-S  its  faith,  in  time  of  stress  and  strain;  not  in  its  material  equipment, 
but  in  the  way  it  uses  it,  when  the  ties  that  bind  human  brotherhood  are  about 
to  snap  and  break.  WE  ARE  IN  SUCH  A  CRISIS.  The  Church  faces  such 
an  hour  and  her  task  is  to  L-E-A-D,  and  say  the  word  and  perform  the 
service  that  will  cheer  the  heart  and  strengthen  the  sinews  of  a  suffering,  sor¬ 
rowing  world.  To  act  the  priest  and  the  levite  and  pass  by  and  ignore  the 
claims  of  a  bleeding  and  dying  world,  crying  for  help;  to  assume  that  civiliza¬ 
tion  is  not  hanging  in  the  balance  and  democracy  about  to  perish  from  the 
earth;  and  to  ignore  the  fact  that  the  freedom  for  which  our  fathers  fled  to 
these  shores,  and  for  which  they  died,  and  the  very  things  for  which  Christ 
died  are  challenged  to  a  death-struggle — to  ignore  these  in  a  self-centered,  easy¬ 
going  complacency  is  to  repudiate  our  claim  to,  and  forever  lose  our  right  to 
the  moral  leadership  of  the  world. 

“Democracy  all  over  the  world  is  trying  to  find  itself  and  express  itself,” 
like  a  blind  Samson,  it  gropes  its  way  for  something  permanent,  something 
that  will  endure.  THE  CHURCH  MUST  HELP.  There  can  be  no  democracy 
without  Christ.  Our  preparation  for  making  the  world  a  safe  home  for  man 
must  be  spiritual.  The  Christian  gospel  has  the  central  secret  for  saving  the 
world  of  the  future.  Nothing  but  Christianity,  as  Lord  Bryce  has  said,  can 
secure  the  world’s  peace.  Democracy  was  born  in  the  heart  of  the  Son  of 
God.  It  is  a  recognition  of  the  fundamental  fact  of  the  solidarity  of  the  race, 
the  brotherhood  of  man,  and  the  Kingdom  of  God.  Christianity  began  as  a 
democracy  of  equal  souls,  a  democracy  of  opportunity,  freedom,  liberty,  and 
equal  rights  to  all,  rich  and  poor,  high  and  low.  The  Church  must  find  her 
soul  if  she  is  to  lead.  “This  dreadful  war  has  been  a  crusade  for  the  future 
of  human  freedom,  a  struggle  for  the  Christian  order  of  things,”  and  now  if 
the  Christian  forces  fail  to  carry  out  Christ’s  program  of  world  redemption, 
all  is  lost.  But  Christianity  has  saved  civilization  and  held  society  together 
more  than  once,  when  everything  else  was  wild  with  riot  and  destruction,  and 
it  alone  has  the  potency  to  stay  the  mad  rush  of  a  frenzied  world  into  death 
and  despair.  Democracy  is  not  safe,  and  is  just  as  helpless  without  Christ,  as 
was  the  thief  on  the  cross,  or  the  lone  traveler  on  Jericho’s  road,  infested  with 
thieves  and  robbers.  Nations  can  never  be  safe  from  invasion  and  disturbance 
as  long  as  there  remains  a  single  national  contingent  without  Christ. 

The  possibilities  of  the  Christian  gospel  are  by  no  means  exhausted.  Thus 
far  we  have  only  touched  the  margin  of  its  potency  to  redeem  the  world.  Our 
Christ  is  just  as  able  to  redeem  the  conditions  that  make  the  thief  and  the 
outlaw,  as  he  is  of  redeeming  the  soul  of  the  worst  man  or  woman  of  the 
world.  Who  dare  say  that  the  saving,  redeeming  power  of  the  gospel  has  been 
exhausted  in  the  redemption  of  a  few  individuals  and  that  it  has  reached  its 
limit  there?  Are  we  to  blaspheme  the  Son  of  God  and  the  Holy  Spirit  by  limit¬ 
ing  saving  redeeming  power  to  individuals  only?  We  have  not  touched  the  hem 
of  the  garment  of  possibility,  as  to  Evangelism.  There  are  yet  vast  and 
uncultivated  fields  for  service,  that  will  yield  to  the  evangelistic  appeal,  in  the 


15 


ledemption  of  social,  industrial,  and  international  relations.  Do  not  misunder¬ 
stand  me,  we  can  never  get  away  from  the  new  birth  and  personal  redemption. 
Society,  too,  must  be  Christianized  and  all  its  institutions.  “The  Modern  Good 
Samaritan  does  more  than  give  relief  to  the  injured  Jew.  He  helps  to  clean 
up  the  country  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho  and  renders  it  safe  for  all  future 
travelers.”  The  real  patriotic  American,  who  grows  eloquent  in  denunciation 
of  Raiserism  in  Potsdam  and  Berlin,  will  join  the  forces  of  righteousness  for 
the  elimination  of  political  gangsters,  and  the  Christianizing  of  the  community 
life  of  the  city.  The  program  of  the  Kingdom  includes  the  application  of  the 
Golden  Rule  and  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  to  governments,  international  law, 
industry,  and  business,  as  well  as  to  individual  members  of  society. 

The  obligation  is  ours,  as  never  before,  to  Christianize  the  social  forces,  or 
these  without  Christ  will  heathenize,  paganize,  and  barbarize  the  world. 

Sitting  at  the  door  of  the  Federal  Building  on  Fountain  Square  in  Cin¬ 
cinnati,  is  an  old  blind  man  selling  the  Times  Star  and  Post.  One  day  I  saw 
him  fumble  his  way  to  the  curb  and  start  to  go  across  the  street.  The  street 
was  congested  with  traffic  and  he  would  hesitate  and  then  start  to  feel  his  way 
through  the  mass  of  humanity,  street  cars,  automobiles,  and  vehicles  of  every 
kind,  but  finally  gave  it  up  in  bewilderment  and  was  appealingly  standing  on 
the  curb  awaiting  some  one  to  help.  A  traffic  policeman  at  the  moment  left 
his  post,  where  he  had  been  directing  the  traffic,  and  came  to  the  poor  blind 
man,  took  him  by  the  arm,  and  safely  guided  his  steps  through  the  hurrying 
crowd  to  a  place  of  safety  on  the  other  side.  The  Church  is  that  traffic  police¬ 
man.  A  blinded,  bewildered  world  of  humanity  without  Christ  gropes  its  way 
through  the  mists  and  confusion,  seeking  to  find  its  way  to  safety  and  freedom 
— bewildered  and  confused,  she  staggars  forth  and  back  again — when  the 
Church  comes  to  the  rescue,  offers  her  services,  and  safely  pilots  a  pilgrim 
world  to  its  haven  of  rest. 

II.  Again,  The  Church  Faces  the  Task  of  Fellowship . 

1.  Fellowship  in  suffering.  If  the  Church  is  to  lead,  it  must  enter  into  the 
fellowship  of  the  world’s  suffering  and  sacrifice.  The  Church  has  received  the 
clarion  call  to  enter  into  the  sufferings  of  the  world,  as  never  before.  I  despair 
of  our  taking  any  place  of  leadership,  unless  we  share  unselfishly,  and  with 
glad  hearts  the  sufferings,  the  heartaches,  and  the  anguish  of  soul  of  this 
present  time.  Christ  summons  His  Church  to  this  task.  Let  the  ten  millions 
wrho  sleep  yonder  in  Flanders,  Belgium,  and  Poland  and  Serbia  and  Roumania 
challenge  us  to  this  task.  Let  the  millions  of  the  flower  of  the  world’s  young 
manhood,  who  submitted  to  the  sufferings,  privations,  and  torture  of  war,  sum¬ 
mon  us  to  share  the  world’s  unutterable  anguish  of  soul.  Believe  me,  Europe  is 
suffering — NOW.  It  is  “Rachael  weeping  for  her  children,  and  would  not  be 
comforted  because  they  were  not.”  I  would  remind  you  while  you  sit  here  in 
this  Convention,  in  comfort  and  quiet,  that  there  are  thousands  of  the  world’s 
youth,  stretched  upon  beds  of  pain  and  indescribable  suffering,  maimed  and  dis¬ 
membered,  deformed  and  crippled  for  life;  martyrs  to  the  cause  of  freedom 
and  democracy,  who  laid  bare  their  bosoms  to  the  ravisher’s  sword,  bayonet, 
and  shell — what  for?  Why  all  this  unspeakable,  indescribable  anguish  of 
spirit  and  torture  of  body?  That  we  might  enjoy  the  freedom  and  liberty  that 
are  ours.  And  then,  add  to  this  the  unnamable  condition  of  the  civilian  popu¬ 
lation,  of  the  war-ridden  countries,  homeless,  driven  out,  starving,  dying  by 
inches — old  men  and  women — stooped,  haggard,  and  emaciated — children,  hands 


16 


gone  and  bodies  maimed.  Oh,  the  broken  fragments  of  the  English  language 
are  inadequate  to  describe  it  all,  so:  heart-rending  and  sad  is  this  inhuman 
spectacle.  But  must  they  suffer  alone?  Nay,  millions  of  Christ’s  redeemed 
ones  must  say  no,  this  cannot  be. 

Here  is  our  task,  and  Christ  summons  us  to  enter  the  fellowship  of  the 
ssufferitftg  of  this  generation.  This  is  the  price  of  leadership.  The  twelve 
frno&tftis  before  us  will  witness  suffering  unparalleled,  on  account  of  the  world’s 
ifeod  famine.  We  must  share  in  its  suffering.  It  is  our  opportunity.  The 
World’s  misery  lies  at  the  doors  of  the  Church,  as  the  lame  man  at  the  gate  of 
the  temple.  The  suffering  world  is  looking  for  Peter  and  John — the  praying 
people— for  succor  and  help.  The  maimed  and  dying  man  on  Jericho’s  Road  is 
looking  for  some  good  Samaritan  to  come  that  way.  Lazarus  is  still  at  the  gate 
of  the  rich  man,  bleeding  and  dying  for  sympathy  and  fellowship  that  saves. 
Here  is  a  task  big  enough  to  test  our  strength.  Will  we  face  it,  or  pass  it  by? 

2.  It  follows  that  fellowship  in  sacrifice  must  be  faced.  Christ’s  program 
must  lead  up  the  rugged  hills  of  sacrifice,  generous,  unselfish,  and  unstinted. 
The  Founder  of  the  Christian  religion  carried  the  cross,  and  says  to  all  who 
are  willing  to  listen:  Carry  the  cross  or  there  can  be  no  discipleship;  pay  the 
jp-rice  of  sacrifice  or  there  can  be  no  leadership. 

After  all,  how  little  part  we  have  had  in  real  sacrifice.  How  little  it  has 
‘cost  1GS.  A  great  deal  of  it  has  been  conscripted,  at  that.  Sacrifice  is  voluntary, 
if  it  is  sacrifice  at  all.  Christ  never  went  to  the  cross,  because  He  had  to, 
font  because  He  wanted  to — it  was  T-H-E  Way,  the  only  way  to  save  and  serve, 
therefore  he  climbed  its  rugged  steep  gladly  and  in  triumph. 

Millions  of  men  in  Europe  sacrificed  everything  for  the  sake  of  cherished 
ideals  and  convictions  of  right.  The  Church  cannot  hope  to  enlist  the  same 
measure  of  service,  unless  it  appeals  to  similar  motives.  The  way  of  sacrifice 
leads  to  the  heart  of  the  world,  but  a  sacrificeless  church  cannot  lead  in  it.  Our 
task,  yea,  our  opportunity  is  to  sacrifice  ourselves  and  our  treasures,  and  if 
we  can  see  that,  we  can  lead  the  world  to  the  feet  of  Christ  in  this  generation. 

A  little  while  ago  I  witnessed  a  ball  game  between  Harvard  and  Yale. 
Twenty  thousand  people  anxiously  waited  for  the  result  of  the  game.  Seven 
innings  had  been  played  and  not  a  score,  so  evenly  matched  were  the  teams. 
Then  at  last,  I  saw  a  big,  strong,  young  athlete  step  to  the  plate.  I  saw,  him 
'get  under  that  ball  and  strike,  and  lift  it  away  yonder  over  the  left  field.  That 
audience  cheered  and  cheered  to  the  echo,  the  excitement  was  unbounded;  the 
player  was  nearing  the  third  base,  when  with  thundering  tones,  the  umpire 
called  out,  “F-O-U-L  B-A-L-L,”  and  the  disappointment  was  undescribable. 

I  wonder  if  we  have  not  been  entirely  |oo  easily  satisfied.  Have  we  played  the 
game  fair?  I  wonder  whether  amid  the  plaudits  of  an  admiring  world  when 
we  have  played  the  game,  but  without- sacrifice,  the  “Umpire  of  the  world”  will 
have  called  out  “F-O-U-L  B-A-L-L' it  does  not  count.  The  game  must  be 

played  fair.  Sacrifice,  whole-hearted  sacrifice  is  the  acid  test  of  true  disciple¬ 
ship.  r 

III.  The  Church  Faces  the  Task  of  Unifying  Its  Forces. 

This  new  world  is  opening  its j  eyes  to  the  necessity  of  a  larger  spirit  of 
fellowship  and  co-operation.  Froni  altnost  every  quarter  comes  the  challenge 
to  the  churches,  to  give  some  convincing  demonstration  to  the  world,  that  they 
are  united,  that  they  are  one.  A  rebellious  world,  steeped  in  sin  and  viscious- 

17 


ness,  organized  evil  and  human  perversity,  makes  it  imperative  that  the  forces 
of  righteousness  present  a  solid  front  with  unbroken  lines. 

There  has  been  born  out  of  this  world  tragedy  a  profound  desire  for  a 
larger  spirit  of  unity  and  good-will.  It  is  said  that  disasters  are  great 
levelers.  All  petty  differences  are  forgotten  in  a  great  crises  of  flood,  fire,  or 
cyclone.  So  this  war,  the  greatest  catastrophe  of  human  history,  is  bringing 
to  the  front  the  great  common  essentials  of  human  life  and  causing  us  to  strive 
for  only  these.  On  yonder  battle  front,  where  “the  bodies  of  men  were  hurled 
across  the  sky  line  like  hail,  the  Protestant,  Jew,  and  Catholic  alike,  fraternized 
with  one  another  and  ministered  alike  to  the  wounded  and  dying  of  all  creeds. 
And  now,  in  these  days  of  world-redemption  and  world-reconstruction,  organ¬ 
ized  Christianity  must  either  present  a  solid  front  in  fellowship,  in  organiza¬ 
tion,  and  in  service,  or  stop .  singing,  “Like  a  mighty  army,  moves  the  Church 
of  God,”  and  take  up  the  more  fitting  dirge, 

“Divided  into  sections  moves  the  Church  of  God, 

Each  the  other  fighting,  like  a  gentile  squad, 

We  are  all  divided,  into  factions  we, 

All  content  to  cherish  for  the  other  charity.” 

And  we  need  not  fold  our  arms  and  close  our  eyes,  in  blissful  innocence, 
but  need  to  face  the  stubborn  fact,  that  we  have  not  always  practiced  what 
we  preached,  but  often  denied  our  theory,  our  principles,  in  our  practice  and 
cannot  assume  a  “holier  than  thou”  attitude  to  the  question  now,  that  we  must 
face  the  task  or  die.  I  despair  of  our  fitness  or  capacity  to  march  in  the  van¬ 
guard,  WHERE  WE  OUGHT  TO  MARCH,  of  world-redemption  and  world- 
reconstruction,  of  spiritual  leadership,  unless  we  get  into  the  movement  toward 
unity  and  integration  that  is  everywhere  manifest. 

Standing  directly  in  the  pathway  of  the  on-moving  van  of  human  progress, 
with  its  everlasting  going,  is  sectarianism,  ecclesiasticism,  and  unarticulated 
denominationalism.  Why  has  not  the  Church  held  a  larger  grip  on  the  people, 
while  there  is  more  of  the  spirit  of  Christ  in  the  world  to-day  than  ever  before? 
Why  the  loss  of  contact  with  the  common  man  of  the  street?  Why  the  line 
of  cleavage  between  the  church  and  the  laboring  man?  Why  did  we  have  so 
little  voice  in  the  conduct  of  the  war?  Why  does  not  the  Church,  as  the  right¬ 
ful  leader  of  the  spiritual  forces  of  progress,  have  an  articulate  voice  in  the 
councils  of  the  nations?  Labor  is  represented  there.  Industry  is  represented. 
Capital  is  certainly  represented.  Why  not  the  Church?  The  answer  is  writ 
across  the  skies— denominationalism  and  sectism  and  petty  divisions. 

The  spirit  of  the  hour  calls  for  the  unification  of  forces.  In  the  great 
conflict  against  Autocracy  and  Militarism,  the  allied  armies  were  wise  enough 
to  see  that  all  segregated  and  unrelated  efforts  meant  defeat,  and  they  wisely 
organized  into  one  great  common  force  for  righteousness  and  presented  a  solid 
front  to  the  hoards  of  Central  Europe.  If  the  Church  would  not  suffer  the 
humiliation  of  defeat,  she  will  be  as  wise.  We  are  facing  the  most  critical 
period  of  history,  and  the  Church  must  not  face  this  task,  like  a  crippled  man 
going  to  his  work.  The  world  rings  with  a  new  sense  of  international  federa¬ 
tion.  We  are  making  leagues  that  bind  the  nations,  heart  to  heart,  for  the 
end  of  the  war  and  the  enforcement  of  peace.  They  forget  minor  differences 
i-n  union  for  a  great  common  cause.  Now  is  the  Churches’  opportunity.  Here 
at  last  is  the  hope  and  promise  of  a  new  order.  Maimed  and  staggering  human- 


18 


ity  may  yet  be  saved.  The  dream  of  brotherhood  may  yet  be  realized.  Will 
the  Churches  rise  to  the  occasion,  or  will  they  go  on  quibbling  over  orders  and 
vestments,  minor  differences  and  non-essentials?  Now  is  the  accepted  time 
and  now  is  the  day  of  salvation.  Organized  Christianity  has  once  more  a 
splendid  chance  of  vindicating  its  existance,  of  demonstrating  the  greatness 
of  its  claim,  of  proving  to  the  world,  that  in  the  great  work  of  human  redemp¬ 
tion,  it  L-E-A-D-S. 

Some  one  has  said,  “Unless  the  aftermath  we  anticipate,  produces  a 
vital  and  growing  cohesion  in  Christianity,  its  prospects  are  by  no  means  reas¬ 
suring.”  Enough  to  know  that  the  occasion  is  insurgent  for  the  obliteration  of 
irrational  boundaries,  and  that  if  the  Church  would  teach  the  world  how  to 
live  in  peace,  she  must  first  possess  it  within  herself.  As  Dr.  Cadman  well  says, 
“One-half  the  denominational  fellowship  of  America,  aye,  in  the  Protestant 
world  at  large,  could  be  merged  to-morrow,  without  serious  hurt  and  with 
immense  an  daccumulating  gain.”  “It’s  a  tragic  fact,”  some  one  stated,  when 
he  said,  “If  we  had  spent  as  much  ammunition  fighting  the  devil,  as  we 
have  spent  fighting  each  other,  the  world  would  have  been  at  the  feet  of  Jesus 
long  ago.” 

The  returning  soldier  ought  to  very  materially  contribute  to  the  solution 
of  this  problem.  These  men  will  return  drilled  in  the  co-operative  idea,  dis¬ 
ciplined  in  a  large  service  at  tremendous  risk.  They  have  been  drilled  to  see 
things  in  the  large,  schooled  in  mass  formations  and  mass  movements,  taught 
in  the  hard  school  of  experience;  what  we  should  have  learned  long  ago,  that  it 
requires  a  solid  body  of  co-operating  units,  moving  as  one  man,  to  accomplish 
great  ends.  They  will  be  out  of  sympathy  with  little  petish  movements  of  small 
squads;  they  had  little  patience  with  these  before  the  war,  but  now  after  four 
years  in  an  army  of  millions,  they  will  have  an  invincible  distaste  for,  and 
scorn  of  the  small  denominational  squad  idea.  They  will  be  in  no  temper  of 
mind  to  play  a  part  in  church  work  characterized  by  independent,  unrelated 
efforts  to  accomplish  vague  and  uncertain  ends.  After  playing  in  the  greatest 
game  in  the  world,  where  the  issues  involved  were  tremendous,  the  world’s 
peace  and  future  safety,  and  the  security  and  happiness  of  nations,  denomi¬ 
national  distinctions  and  hair-splitting  will  look  mighty  little  to  this  man  of  a 
world-order. 

IV.  The  Church  Faces  the  Task  of  World  Conquest. 

There  is  a  new  world  consciousness  that  has  been  born  out  of  bloodshed 
and  sacrifice  in  this  unusual  world  crisis.  We  have  just  opened  our  eyes  to 
the  fact  of  a  percep table  world- shrinkage,  and  that  the  development  of  modern 
science  and  industry  has  made  the  world  a  great  neighborhood'.-"  Distance  has 
been  eliminated,  and  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  and  Australia  are  at  our  very 
door.  Our  neighbors  are  in  speaking  distance  of  us,  and  it  behooves  us  that 
we  be  on  the  best  of  terms.  We  speak  as  familiarly  of  Belgium  and  Armenia, 
as  our  fathers  would  of  those  living  across  the  street.  We  converse  with  the 
yellow  man  and  the  black  man  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  earth,  as  easily  as 
we  speak  to  our  nearest  neighbor.  The  noon-day  events  in  Russia  and  Central 
India  are  chronicled  in  our  evening  papers.  When  the  Christian  world  refused 
to  take  Christ  to  the  non-Christian  peoples  of.  the  earth,  God  brought  them  and 
laid  them  at  our  very  door.  . 

This  world-shrinkage  has  made  necessary  that  the  families  of  the  earth 
be  welded  into  a  common  brotherhood.  We  have  just  discovered1  that  a  world- 


19 


neighborhood  repudiating  human  brotherhood,  is  as  unsafe  for  the  peace  and 
happiness  of  the  race,  as  was  Baby  Belgium  and  Innocent  Serbia,  with  a  Nation 
Burglar  and  Murderer  at  her  doors.  We  have  just  discovered  that  there  is 
no  peace  nor  safety  as  long  as  any  single  contingent  of  the  New  World  Order 
is  without  Christ.  John  R.  Mott  sensed  the  situation  before  the  war  began. 
At  the  Student  Volunteer  Convention  at  Kansas  City  in  January,  1914,  he 
said,  “The  world  has  become  a  dangerous  place,  and  nothing  save  the  expansion 
of  Christianity  in  its  purest  form  can  make  it  a  safe  home  for  man.”  Now, 
we  have  learned  to  our  sorrow  that  the  organization  of  the  world  on  the  basis 
of  competition  and  fighting  strength,  means  either,  that  one  power,  more  am¬ 
bitious  and  blood-thirsty  than  the  rest,  will  dominate,  or  the  world  is  involved 
in  a  general  conflict  and  destruction,  and  civilization  and  Christianity  will  go 
down  in  a  welter  of  blood  and  crime.  No  nation  is  exempt.  The  only  alter¬ 
native  is  to  organize  the  common  life  on  the  basis  of  brotherhood.  The  problem 
of  the  world’s  peace  is  missionary.  The  modern  Christian  must  develope  the 
international  mind  and  study  larger  maps.  The  world  will  be  safe  for  peace¬ 
ful  living  only,  when  we  change  the  motive,  ambition,  spirit,  and  dispositions 
of  men,  when  we  make  Christians  of  the  individual  citizen  of  the  world,  and 
Christianize  the  social  forces,  national  and  international  relations. 

Had  the  disciples  of  the  Son  of  God  obeyed  His  last  word,  “Go  ye”  and 
make  Christians  of  all  nations,  democracy  and  brotherhood,  in  all  probability, 
would  to-day  prevail  in  all  the  world,  and  we  would  have  been  spared  all  this 
deluge  of  blood,  that  has  drenched  European  soil.  Had  the  Christians  of  the 
world  simply  tithed  the  cost  of  this  world-blunder,  in  teaching  the  nations  how 
to  live  together  in  peace,  this  old  earth  of  ours  would  not  have  been  drenched 
in  blood  and  tears.  Had  we  given  our  youth  to  Christian  service  in  Europe 
and  Asia  and  the  isles  of  the  sea,  with  the  same  devotion  and  consecration, 
that  we  gave  them  to  the  God  of  War,  teaching  the  great  principles  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God  and  Human  Brotherhood,  we  would  have  been  spared  the 
grief  and  sadness  incident  to  sending  them  to  the  slaughter  pens  of  eastern 
France.  What  a  judgment  upon  our  folly,  our  neglect,  yes,  our  disobedience. 
Visioned  in  all  its  horrible  details  stretched  across  the  canvass,  is  the  length¬ 
ened  photograph  of  God’s  judgment  upon  a  disobedient  people. 

Again,  the  returning  soldier  will  come  home  a  citizen  of  the  world,  with  a 
world-o\itlook  and  a  world-view  of  things.  He  will  have  developed  the  inter¬ 
national  mind.  Over  a  million  of  them  will  return  with  a  world  consciousness 
and  interested  in  world-programs.  These  men  will  help  to  control  and  influence 
the  Church  and  the  Nation  for  the  next  twenty- five  years.  They  have  gone 
from  our  colleges  and  universities,  the  very  flower  of  the  nation,  and  large 
numbers  of  them  have  caught  the  vision  of  the  Christ,  on  the  battle-front,  and 
they  will  be  interested  in  a  program  of  world-conquest  for  Christ,  as  they  have 
so  nobly  fought  and  bled  for  a  world-democracy.  Their  message  will  be  for 
humanity.  Back  from  the  struggle,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  in  the  trenches,  across 
“No  Man’s  Land,”  with  the  Frenchman,  Englishman,  Italian,  Canadian,  Indian, 
and  South  African  they  will  come  with  a  new  conception  of  humanity.  Gone 
forever  are  the  “dago,”  “sheeny/’  and  other  uncomplimentary  cognomens,  for 
these  men  have  learned  in  the  crucible  of  war,  that  beating  beneath  those 
rough  exteriors  are  hearts,  sympathetic  and  noble,  and  willing  to  sacrifice  and 


20 


serve  for  the  sake  of  liberty,  freedom,  and  brotherhood.  Back  from  a  six 
hundred-mile  battle  line,  the  longest  ever  known,  amid  the  most  varied 
assembly  of  armies  ever  mustered,  they  will  have  had  months  or  years  of  close 
interdependent  comradship,  with  men  of  a  score  of  races.  They  will  come 
back  with  a  keener  sense  of  brotherhood,  than  when  they  left  us.  Hence  the 
task  of  winning  the  world  for  Christ  in  this  generation,  will  claim  and  receive 
a  larger  share  of  attention  and  support  than  it  has  ever  had.  World-conquest 
for  Christ  will  enlist  a  million  advocates,  where  it  had  but  thousands  before. 
Men  who  have  gambled  with  death  and  faced  hell  and  taken  the  supreme  risk 
for  the  Christianizing  of  International  Relations,  will  be  the  natural  allies 
of  the  Church,  which  by  its  Foreign  Mission  Service  is  pledged  to  the  conquest 
of  the  world  for  justice,  fraternity,  and  Christian  Brotherhood.  The  Brother¬ 
hood  of  man  and  the  Kingdom  of  God  are  no  longer  a  mere  dream,  but  a 
growing  reality. 

This  unique  world-crisis  summons  the  churches  to  their  real  task,  the  evan¬ 
gelization  of  the  world,  and  that  in  this  generation.  The  conditions  are  ripe 
for  world-conquest.  One  of  God’s  servants  said,  “When  thy  judgments  are  in 
the  earth,  the  inhabitants  of  the  world  learn  righteousness,”  and  God’s  judg¬ 
ments  are  in  the  earth  as  never  known  before,  and  the  people  are  ready  to 
learn  righteousness.  The  world  was  never  so  sensitive  to  the  evangelistic  appeal 
as  now.  Our  Christ  and  a  war-crazed  world  summon  us  to  this  task.  It  is  a 
big  task,  but  it  is  the  bigness  of  the  task  that  challenges  the  Church.  We 
have  become  accustomed  to  large  figures  and  world-maps  and  great  continent¬ 
wide  movements,  and  what  we  have  learned  to  do  in  the  time  of  war,  we  are 
Uallenged  to  continue  in  time  of,  peace. 

There  must  be  some  outlet  for  all  the  surplus  energy  and  tremendous  re- 
*"  urces  of  the  Church.  We  must  never  again  make  such  small  demands  of 
our  people.  They  have  capacity  and  are  capable  of  great  sacrifices,  and  are 
equal  to  tremendous  tasks.  The  Forward  Movement  challenges  us,  and  its 
program  is  big  enough  to  call  out  our  undeveloped  resources  and  capabilities. 
If  we  would  really  appeal  to  the  strength  of  the  Church  of  to-morrow,  ask 
for  the  performance  of  great  tasks,  involving  great  risk,  and  the  Church  will 
respond.  No  great  war  can  be  fought  in  a  province  or  a  township;  it  takes 
continents  and  empires.  Give  the  Christian  Church  a  big  task  and  it  will 
triumph.  Let  us  forget  and  overcome  the  tendency  to  ease  and  luxury,  in  our 
generation,  and  summon  the  manhood  and  womanhood  of  our  churches  to  tre¬ 
mendous  tasks,  commensurate  with  our  strength  and  Christ  has  a  program 
sufficiently  big  to  call  into  play  all  the  resources  and  reserve  power  at  our 
command.  If  we  would  be  like  God,  if  we  would  walk  with  God  in  the  next 
generation,  we  must  walk  with  Him  in  God-like  tasks. 

Here  is  the  charter  of  the  Church.  Here  is  her  commission,  yea,  here  is 
her  challenge  for  service.  “Put  on  the  whole  armor  of  God”  and  face  the 
task  of  I,  Leadership;  II,  Fellowship  in  Suffering  and  Sacrifice;  III,  Co-opera¬ 
tion  and  Unity,  and  these  all  consecrated  to  the  one  supreme  task  of  IV,  Giving 
Christ  to  the  whole  world. 


21 


Evangelism 


BY  O.  W.  WHITELOCK,  OF  HUNTINGTON,  INDIANA 


Members  of  The  American  Christian  Convention  and  Brethren  — 

The  Committee  on  Program  has  assigned  Rev.  Alva  Martin  Kerr  and 
myself  to  speak  to  you  upon  one  of  the  five  points  of  the  Forward  Movement, 
that  of  Evangelism,  he  speaking  as  a  minister  and  I  speaking  to  you  from  a 
layman’s  view-point.  We  must  evangelize  or  we  perish.  These  seem  to  be 
strong  and  emphatic  words.  I  do  not  mean,  we  would  be  blotted  out  at  once, 
but  would  gradually  decrease.  In  the  course  of  my  remarks,  I  will  give  some 
of  my  reasons.  I  make  my  statement  that  we  may  be  admonished  concerning 
our  danger,  that  we  may  be  aroused  now  to  the  gravity  of  our  situation. 

As  a  Church  we  are  making  no  substantial  gains.  Our  numbers  remain 
almost  the  same  year  after  year.  The  losses  and  gains  are  practically  equal. 
In  some  conferences  there  are  slight  gains,  in  others  slight  losses.  Our 
churches  are  mainly  country  or  small  village  churches.  The  country  churches 
in  all  denominations  are  growing  weaker.  The  country  church  problem  has 
not  been  solved,  only  in  a  degree,  many  rural  congregations  are  dying  and  will 
continue  to  die.  Strong  churches  may  be  built  up  in  some  communities,  while 
in  others  they  will  gradually  grow  weaker  and  weaker  until  they  cease  to 
exist.  Some  churches  can  be  revived  and  saved.  Many  conditions  and  circum¬ 
stances  ?have  to  be  met  and  overcome  if  the  church  is  to  be  a  “forward  move¬ 
ment”  or  “live  wire”  church.  We  have  eighty  per  cent,  of  our  churches  in 
country  or  in  towns  of  less  than  1,500  inhabitants.  Our  country  church  per¬ 
centage  is  so  great  that  the  general  church  conditions  in  country  districts 
necessarily  reduce  our  numbers  rapidly.  Entire  churches,  in  practically  every 
conference,  lose  their  identity,  they  have  not  even  a  “name  to  live.”  There 
conditions  which  cause  disintegration  and  decay  are  not  peculiar  to  our  Church 
alone,  but  are  general  among  country  churches.  Our  percentage  of  churches 
subject  to  the  conditions  which  carry  the  elements  of  dissolution  makes  the 
effect  upon  the  Christian  Church  alarming.  Our  treatment  must  be  prompt 
and  heroic. 

The  situation  is  more  alarming  because  our  sustaining  force  is  Being 
depleted.  Our  ministers  have  been  called  into  the  service  of  our  Government, 
and  our  young  men  are  not  entering  the  ministry.  There  are  fewer  and  fewer 
preachers  to  rebuild  “the  walls  of  Jerusalem,”  “they  are  broken  down,”  and 
“the  gates  are  being  burned  with  fire.”  Even  the  ranks  of  the  laity  have  been 
depleted  from  war  causes.  Not  only  have  the  country  churches  lost  from  war 
causes,  but  are  losing  heavily  by  country  and  village  people  moving  to  the 
cities  to  engage  in  city  industries,  others  go  there  to  rest,  they  retire.  When 
they  once  go  away  to  the  city  they  seldom  return  to  the  home  place.  Frequently 
they  do  nothing  at  the  old  home  church  and  nothing  at  the  city  church.  They 
do  not  join  the  city  church,  and  when  asked  to  contribute  to  the  old  home 
church  they  say,  “I  don’t  get  out  very  often  and  don’t  get  much  benefit,  so  you 
ought  not  to  expect  much  from  me.”  They  are  Brother  “Tightwad”  and 
Sister  “Crab  Apple,”  they  live  just  beyond  Silver  Creek,  and  never  get  across 
the  creek.  Who  will  preach  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ?  In  the  past  most  of 


22 


our  ministers  came  from  the  country  churches,  but  the  base  of  supply  is 
weakened.  Who  will  vitalize  the  dying  churches  and  breathe  “the  breath  of 
life”  into  the  nostrils  of  expiring  church  members? 

Those  who  remain. 

But  if  they  are  constantly  growing  fewer  how  shall  they  rebuild  the  walls 
of  our  Zion?  They  must  become  more  efficient  builders,  also  better  husband¬ 
men  in  the  vineyard  of  our  Lord. 

This  is  our  only  hope. 

We  must  cry  mightily  unto  the  Lord,  neither  rest  day  nor  night,  but  go 
forward  to  conquer  and  actually  conquering  the  difficulties  before  us. 

The  laymen  of  our  Church  must  be  baptized  anew  with  the  spirit  of  evan¬ 
gelism.  We  must  be  LAY  PREACHERS  and  WITNESSES  for  Christ  and 
of  Christ.  Every  church  should  have  its  organized  Evangel  Band,  men  and 
women,  two  sections,  one  to  work  among  the  men  and  the  other  among  the 
women.  This  band  should  emphasize  devotion,  one  of  the  other  five  points 
of  the  “Forward  Movement.”  It  must  be  much  in  prayer,  each  member  must 
be  filled  with  a  holy  zeal  and  a  passion  to  win  souls  and  must  be  a  living  witness 
for  the  Christ.  DEVOTION  by  this  band,  must  have  a  twofold  meaning,  not 
only  prevailing  prayer  and  supplication,  but  an  enthusiasm  for  the  Kingdom  of 
God.  Such  a  band  under  the  leadership  of  the  pastor  can  enthuse  and  vitalize 
the  whole  Church.  Such  a  band  devoted  to  the  task  of  carrying  the  gospel 
message  is  equipped  for  service  in  the  Master’s  vineyard.  It  is  ready  for  an 
extended  evangelistic  campaign.  It  should  be  the  leaven  to  the  entire  Church 
and  should  organize  the  church  for  a  systematic  effort  at  soul-winning.  The 
effort  may  be  along  several  different  lines.  A  few  suggestions  may  be  helpful. 
Talk  up  your  church  and  your  pastor  or  minister,  adduce  many  arguments  in 
favor  of  your  church  and  your  preacher.  Enthusiasm  begets  enthusiasm,  like 
begets  like.”  Get  the  “home  fires”  aglow.  You  must  believe  you  will,  pray 
you  will  and  YOU  WILL. 

Make  a  canvass  of  your  church  for  those  who  will  pray  definitely  for  one 
or  more  persons.  Make  a  survey  of  your  community  and  list  the  name  of 
every  one  who  is  not  known  to  be  a  follower  of  Christ.  Call  a  meeting  of 
those  who  have  said  they  would  pray  definitely  for  others,  announce  the  result 
of  the  survey  and  make  definite  lists  of  names  for  prayers.  Each  one  present 
should  make  a  definite  prayer  list  for  himself.  All  the  names  should  appear 
upon  one  or  more  of  these  prayer  lists.  Not  only  should  prayers  be  offered 
for  the  listed  names,  but  each  one  should  be  invited  to  the  church  and  Sunday- 
school.  If  you  would  win  a  man  you  must  first  get  him  interested  in  some 
way  to  hear  the  gospel  trumpet.  Get  him  interested  by  being  interested  your¬ 
self  in  him.  Adopt  a  WIN  ONE  campaign.  Each  one  of  your  evangel  band 
to  WIN  ONE,  and  he  in  turn  win  another.  In  this  way  scores  may  be  won  into 
Christ’s  Kingdom  and  into  the  local  church.  Christ’s  plan  was  for  His  disciples 
to  be  His  witnesses  of  Him  and  for  Him.  Be  such  a  witness  to  those  you 
would  win  to  Christ.  John  the  Baptist  said,  “I  saw  and  bare  record  that  this 
is  the  Son  of  God.”  (St.  John  1:  34) 

“Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  we  speak  that  we  do  know  and  testify  that 
we  have  seen,”  etc.  (John  3:  11)  Peter  bore  witness  on  the  day  of  Pentecost. 
Stephen  testified  and  said,  “Behold  I  see  the  heavens  opened  and  the  Son  of 
man  standing  on  th  right  hand  of  God.”  (Acts  7 :  56) 


23 


“But  ye  shall  receive  power  after  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  come  upon  you 
and  ye  shall  be  witnesses  unto  me  both  in  Jerusalem  and  in  all  Judea  and  in 
Samaria  and  unto  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth.”  (Acts  1:  8)  May  we 
be  much  in  prayer  that  the  Holy  Ghost  may  come  upon  us. 

“Not  to  all  the  people,  but  unto  witnesses  chosen  before  of  God,  even  to 
us  who  did  eat  and  drink  with  him  after  he  rose  from  the  dead.  And  he 
commanded  us  to  preach  unto  the  people,  and  to  testify  that  it  is  he  which  was 
ordained  of  God  to  be  the  judge  of  quick  and  dead.  To  him  give  all  the  prophets 
witness,  that  through  his  name  whosoever  believeth  in  him  shall  receive  remis¬ 
sion  of  sins.”  (Acts  10:41-43) 

In  order  to  be  a  witness  for  a  cause  in  a  civil  court  one  must  know  some¬ 
thing  about  the  pending  case.  The  witness  must  KNOW ;  it  cannot  be  “maybe 
so”  or  “I  guess  so”  or  “I  heard  some  one  say  so;”  there  must  not  be  any  “hear 
say,”  but  “KNOW  whereof  you  speak.” 

A  soul-winner  must  be  a  “John  the  Baptist”  in  experience,  he  must  spirit¬ 
ually  havej  seen  the  Christ,  he  may  then  bare  record. 

The  reason  many  of  us  are  so  deficient  as  soul  winners  is  we  have  not 
truly  SEEN  the  Christ  and  our  witness  is  not  received  in  men’s  hearts. 

A  witness  to  be  of  much  weight  in  court  must  not  only  know  the  things 
about  which  he  testifies,  but  he  must  also  be  a  creditable  witness,  his  reputa¬ 
tion  for  truth  and  veracity  must  be  good.  So  one  testifying  of  Christ  and  for 
His  cause  must  be  above  reproach.  He  must  be  “as  clean  as  a  hound’s  tooth.” 
Church  members  may  be  “living  epistles”  read  of  men,  by  their  faithfulness  at 
church  services. 

Don’t  be  “oncers”  but  “every  timers.”  By  your  faithfulness  to  the  church 
you  become  preachers  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  You  cannot  promulgate  or 
preach  the  gospel  of  Christ  unless  you  live  that  gospel.  You  must  not  be  a 
“slacker”  nor  a  “quitter,”  but  a  “loyal  soldier  in  the  army  of  the  Lord.” 

Fully  equipped  with  the  whole  armor  of  God  you  may  confidently  expect 
to  win  the  battles  of  the  Lord.  As  you  talk  to  your  neighbor  about  Christ  and 
His  kingdom  of  love  and  service  you  may  confidently  expect  that  Christ’s 
quickening  spirit  will  touch  his  heart  and  men  and  women  will  be  born  into 
His  Kingdom,  always  remembering,  however,  “neither  is  he  that  planteth  any¬ 
thing,  neither  he  that  watereth;  but  God  giveth  the  increase.” 

The  Sunday-school  is  the  greatest  field  for  evangelism,  here  is  the  greatest 
opportunity  for  the  Sunday-school  teacher.  It  is  not  only  the  great  study 
room  of  the  church,  but  also  a  great  training  room  for  the  church.  Those  who 
are  not  in  the  church  are  led  toward  her  doors  and  taught  the  elementary  and 
foundation  principles  on  which  the  Church  is  builded.  It  is  well  known  that 
a  major  part  of  those  who  become  Church  members  come  from  the  Sunday- 
school  into  the  Church. 

Every  layman  should  be,  not  only  in  the  Sunday-school,  but  the  Sunday- 
school  should  be  in  him,  moving  him,  arousing  him,,  and  giving  him  a  vision 
of  what  he  can  do  to  get  the  other  fellow  who  is  not  interested.  The  laymen 
of  the  Church  must  be  the  teachers  of  the  Sunday-school,  they  must  be  Chris¬ 
tians,  their  souls  must  be  on  fire  for  Christ  and  His  Kingdom.  They  are 
teaching  the  fundamentals  of  the  Kingdom,  to  do  this  properly,  they  must  have 
been  at  the  altar  of  sacrifice,  they  must  not  be  Brother  “Tight  Wad”  nor 
Sister  “Crab  Apple,”  the  incense  from  their  offerings  must  have  ascended 
into  heaven. 


24 


Brothei1  laymen,  have  we  caught  a  vision  of  the  crucified  Christ  and  His 
love  for  the  world,  of  His  sacrifice,  His  suffering,  and  His  death  for  others? 
Would  God  that  all  teachers  in  the  Sunday-school  might  get  the  vision,  that 
they  might  see  the  hosts  of  children  marching  up  the  slopes  of  time,  some  of 
them  on  slippery  places,  some  on  boggy  ground,  some  on  shifting  sands,  and 
others  looking  into  a  yawning  abyss.  Yes,  a  vision  of  their  duty  to  those  about 
them.  May  the  vision  be  so  clear  and  real  that  they  will  cry  out,  “Here  am  I, 
Lord,  send  me.” 

The  teacher  is  the  vitalizing  power  that  warms  and  germinates  the  embry- 
otic  soul  cells  of  the  human  mind,  that  they  may  begin  to  reach  out  after  God. 

The  teacher  may  be  a  mighty  power  in  the  hands  of  God  in  helping  souls 
to  decide  for  Jesus  Christ  and  His  Kingdom.  By  his  prayers  and  words  of 
counsel,  he  can  lead  many  a  groping,  wandering  soul  into  the  light  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  put  his  feet  on  the  solid  rock  of  ages,  which  is  stronger  than  the 
rock  of  Gibraltar  and  as  enduring  as  eternity  itself.  A  soul  saved  is  greater 
m  the  sight  of  God  than  the  piling  of  millions  of  dollars  in  one’s  own  coffers 
which  must  finally  corrode  and  turn  to  dust. 

The  teacher  can,  by  tact,  prayer,  and  consecration  become  a  socializing 
influence  in  his  class,  for  the  spirit  of  God  is  a  great  leveling,  equalizing  power. 
He  can  bring  together  the  master  and  the  servant,  the  lady  and  the  maid,  the 
teacher  and  the  pupils,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  learned  and  the  unlearned. 

In  the  great  melting  pot  of  Christ’s  love  they  may  be  all  fused  together 
into  the  greatest  democracy  of  the  world,  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Nothing  but  the  love  of  Christ  and  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  can  melt 
into  one  great  fellowship,  the  men  of  all  classes  and  stations  in  life.  Only 
yesterday  the  allies  shed  “rivers  of  blood”  for  a  world  democracy  and  for  a 
Christianity  that  recognized  the  humblest  rights  of  mankind.  The  laity  of 
the  Christian  Churchl  should  give  the  great  heart  beats  of  their  lives  to  carry 
the  pulsating,  harmonizing  blood  of  Christ  into  the  veins  and  arteries  of  the 
souls  of  men  that  they  may  dwell  together  in  the  unity  of  equality  and  vital 
fellowship,  that  their  hearts  may  beat  as  one  and  that  they  may  be  one  in  the 
spirit,  as  Christ  and  the  Father  are  one. 

Save  the  boys  and  girls  in  their  teen  age  in  the  Sunday-school.  Here  is 
the  greatest  opportunity  to  bring  them  under  the  saving  power  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  their  acceptance  of  Him  as  the  ruler  of  their  lives.  If  they  do  not  accept 
Christ  before  they  are  out  of  their  tens  the  problem  of  their  salvation  becomes 
more  difficult  each  year.  The  responsibility  upon  the  teacher  is  very  great 
It  is  greater  than  most  teachers  realize. 

,  Jhe  burden  of  the  salvation  of  every  pupil’s  soul  should  be  upon  the  teach¬ 
er  s  heart,  he  ought  to  pray  definitely  and  singly  for  each  one  of  his  class  until 
each  one  has  definitely  settled  his  proper  relation  to  the  Savior  of  the  world. 

,^e  oufht  to  personaUy  talk  with  each  member  of  his  class  who  is  outside 
the  ark  of  safety”  and  endeavor  to  bring  him  in,  for  the  floods  of  the  devil’s 
intrigues  will  overwhelm  and  destroy  many  in  the  coming  days,  if  they  have 
not  cast  anchor  in  the  deep  of  God’s  love,  if  they  have  not  headed  their  bark 
tor  the  haven  of  eternal  safety  and  rest. 

The  teacher  can  win  when  others  would  fail.  Sometimes  even  the  pastor 
does  not  have  as  much  influence  as  the  teacher.  Sunday  after  Sunday  he 
can  say  something  that  will  help  them  see  the  importance  and  necessity  of 
the  Christian  life.  “Word  upon  word,  precept  upon  precept,  here  a  little  and 


25 


there  a  little, ’*  and  you  have  paved  the  way  for  entrance  Into  the  Kingdoni. 
You  will  help  make  the  opportunity,  the  Holy  Spirit  will  do  his  part,  and  the 
deciding  moment  of  the  soul  is  sure  to  come  when  by  a  word  or  an  earnest 
prayer  he  will  accept  the  Christ  and  become  His  child. 

Fellow  teachers  we  can  be  of  great  service  to  the  church  if  we  will.  But 
we  cannot  win  folks  to  the  Kingdom  until  we  have  made  them  feel  that  we 
sympathize  with  them  and  love  them,  and  are  deeply  interested  in  their  use¬ 
fulness  and  success  in  life.  Having  done  this,  the  way  is  open  to  reach  their 
hearts  and  life,  and  for  the  incoming  of  the  sweeter  spirit  of  the  Christ. 

With  Church  and  Sunday-school  going  forward  along  the  lines  and  with 
the  spirit  I  have  outlined,  the  Church  will  most  likely  be  receiving  members 
at  almost  every  service  and  will  be  ready  for  a  bountiful  harvest. 

The  wise  pastor,  by  the  help  of  an  evangelistic  pastor,  whom  he  has  called 
to  his  assistance  in  a  two  or  three  weeks’  evangelistic  campaign  will  be  able  to 
gather  into  the  fold  many  of  the  “lost  sheep”  of  that  community.  Such  a 
church  will  almost  certainly  have  a  ten  per  cent,  net  increase  in  membership 
each  year  and  will  be  a  center  of  influence  and  good  fellowship  in  that  com¬ 
munity.  You  notice  I  recommend  the  assistance  by  a  fellow  pastor.  I  believe 
this  is  better  than  employing  a  professional  evangelist  whose  greatest  effort, 
many  times,  is  for  himself  and  who  is  more  intent  on  filling  his  own  pocket 
than  building  up  the  church. 

My  opening  statement  that  “we  must  evangelize  or  we  perish,”  may  seem 
pessimistic,  and  it  is  in  a  measure.  But  I  have  tried  to  put  the  emphasis  on 
“WE  MUST  EVANGELIZE.”  I  repeat  it,  “We  must  evangelize,”  and  if  we 
are  able  to  double  our  membership  in  the  next  ten  years  we  must  not  only  evan¬ 
gelize  in  our  present  church  parishes  but  we  must  be  home  missionaries  and 
evangelize  new  fields.  I  admit  there  are  difficulties  in  the  home  mission  field, 
but  they  can  be  overcome  and  must  be  overcome  if  our  Church  is  to  make  the 
growth  that  she  has  the  opportunity  to  make  and  which  her  broad  principles 
invite.  Why  do  I  say  opportunity  in  face  of  the  adverse  conditions  I  have 
already  pointed  out? 

We  have  just  passed  through  the  greatest  war  of  all  history  for  a  world 
Democracy  of  Government.  There  is  a  spirit  of  the  democracy  of  religion 
permeating  the  heart  of  every  returning  soldier.  The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  hut,  the 
Red  Cross  Hospital,  and  other  kindred  humanitarian  organizations  emphasize 
this  as  a  fact.  Herein  is  manifest  that  unity  of  spirit  taught  by  the  Christ. 
Creeds,  “isms,”  and  “ites,”  have  no  place  in  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  world 
to-day.  The  principles  of  Christian  fellowship  and  brotherly  love  are  mani¬ 
fest  everywhere.  The  victory  for  humanity  and  Christianity  has  been  won, 
church  creeds,  as  such,  are  consigned  to  the  discard,  and  men  and  women 
everywhere  are  recognized  for  the  Christian  character  they  are  showing  in 
their  every-day  walk  of  life. 

After  the  War  of  the  Revolution  our  forefathers  clamored  against  auto¬ 
cratic  church  government.  As  a  result  the  Christian  Church  was  born.  The 
revolution  of  1776  covered  only  a  small  part  of  the  world.  The  war  against 
autocracy  has  now  revolutionized  practically  the  whole  world,  the  results  upon 
the  church  life  and  spirit  will  be  as  much  greater  after  the  war  as  this  world 
war  was  greater  than  the  Revolution  of  ’76.  The  Christian  Church  was  bom  a 
religious  democracy.  At  the  time  of  its  birth  a  new  democratic  nation  had 
just  been  bom.  We  are  now  living  in  a  bigger  day.  A  democratic  world  is 


26 


now  being  conceived,  a  few  more  days  of  expectancy  and  of  travail  and  a 
DEMOCRATIC  WORLD  WILL  BE  BORN. 

I  prophesy  that  there  will  also  be  bom  a  greater  spirit  of  church  democ¬ 
racy  than  was  ever  known  before  and  will  be  based  upon  the  spirit  of  the 
Christ  as  told  in  the  simple  Bible  story.  Our  Church,  the  Christian  Church, 
should  be  an  evangel  to  carry  this  spirit  and  herald  it  among  all  the  people 
both  at  home  and  abroad. 

The  hour  of  our  future  destiny  is  striking  now.  Men  and  brethren,  do 
we  hear  this  alarm  clock  of  the  ages? 

We  must  hear,  we  must  marshall  our  forces  of  men  and  money.  We  must 
not  be  slackers  in  country,  village,  or  city.  We  must  evangelize,  or  our  oppor¬ 
tunity  will  be  given  to  another,  and  we  shall  perish  because  God  has  “weighed 
us  in  the  balance”  and  “have  been  found  wanting.” 


27 


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